What is the point of these they have caused me so much hassle and have had to send my flute back to Miyazawa twice now. Does anyone else have this problem?

I haven`t had a problem with mine yet. Still, I am not too impressed by them. When I get my flute re padded, they will not be with them. One of the flutist in the Symphony here owns a Miyazawa with straubinger pads on it and has had nothing but trouble too. She sent her flute to the company to have it re padded but it came back worse. That is when the repair tech in my city had to re do it all. He is definitely not a fan of sraubinger pads and tried to talk me out of getting a Powell and getting a Yamaha instead because of them.

I wonder if it has something to do with the way Miyazawa has those clamps (sorry I don`t know the correct name for them) in the middle that holds them in place are causing problems. One actually popped out on me with the whole pad and all when I was play testing one last year.

What kind of problems are they giving you?

<Added>

By the way, I found out that staubinger pads do better in a more moist environment. For the life of me, I could not understand why my flute was playing so awful when I had went to visit my parents in Idaho about a month ago. I talked to the technician at Powell and she told me that if I lived in a drier environment like Idaho, I would have to get my pads re adjusted about every six weeks! That is nuts!! Just thought I would mention that just in case you live in a drier area.

They are great for a while and then suddenly the skin starts to hang down and get crumpled. This is made worse by the soldered tone holes leading to a poor seal and hence crappy notes. I thought I must have been rubbing them but I totally avoided polishing that area for a while and I got worse.Im not happy I have 3 really high profile concerts really soon and my flute has to be sent to Japan as uk dealers arent allowed to touch Straubinger pads. Not what I expected form Miyazawa`s top of the range flute. Oh and the crowning touch was that they couldnt give me a time scale for the repair as apparently its a very uncommon problem. ahhhhhhhhhh

If it is such an uncommon problem, then why have I heard of the same thing and we live in different countries! I would be really frustrated too. I am so sorry.The least Miyazawa could do is send you another flute in the mean time to play on if they haven`t already. I hope that you have a good back up flute. People may make fun of me for having one and saying I have too many flutes, but it has saved me a couple of times already.
Good luck to you.

I totally agree a back-up flute is vital as shown by my current situation lol. im so glad i didnt sell my old flute. the really annoying thing is they want me to send the whole flute to them and I would rather keep the headjoint as its really different to my sankyo flutes head and would less of an disturbance to me. This is turning out to be a MAJOR inconvienience for me and has taken away alot of the confidence I had in Miyazawa instruments.this has affected so much especially when you get lessons at a conservatoire you cant really be like "oh my flute`s away for a while" rant over.

Yikes, I`m planning on buying a Powell Signature to replace my Muramatsu EX, and this is the first time I`ve questioned my decision.

Regarding back-up flutes, you guys are definitely correct. People may think it`s unnecessary to own two flutes, but it`s actually almost vital. I recently play tested some student flutes for a back-up, and the new Emersons play surprisingly well. It`s probably going to be between a Yamaha, Emerson or Jupiter.

Kara, you mentioned something about Miyazawas having a different pad installation method than Powell. Do you think the padding technique could pose more of a problem than the pads themselves?

Kara, you mentioned something about Miyazawas having a different pad installation method than Powell. Do you think the padding technique could pose more of a problem than the pads themselves

I can`t say for sure, but I wonder myself only because I have never had a problem with the straubinger pads on either of the Powell`s that I have owned, yet this is the second time I have heard of this on the Miyazawa flutes. I don`t think you need to worry. Just make sure and take advantage of the year warranty on it and send it to the factory before the year is up and you should be fine.

Ive had a miyazawa flute for about a year and a half now. And I just sent it off for repairs for what other then...the straubinger pads. like someone said, i thought that it was me rubbing them, but I'm pretty good about keeping my flute up and have been paying extra attention. it makes me feel better that other people are having this problem even though it shouldnt be happening

Ive had a miyazawa flute for about a year and a half now. And I just sent it off for repairs for what other then...the straubinger pads. like someone said, i thought that it was me rubbing them, but I'm pretty good about keeping my flute up and have been paying extra attention. it makes me feel better that other people are having this problem even though it shouldnt be happening

Straubingers have a notorious problem of tearing. It has to do with the design of the pad itself (IMO). To make matters worse, there are TONS of bad straub installations which just makes the problem worse.

Patrick? Did I see your picture on this forum? Are you in here? Don't make me come find you...

Joe B

I know that when I have to get my Powell put in for a re pad, I am going to get felt pads put on it. I have had my flute for almost a year now and haven't had any problems with the straubinger pads, they still look like new. I really wonder if it is something to do with the way Miyazawa has them installed?

Patrick is on this board, but we like to call him Petric. Lol! Inside joke.

Joe

Should I tell everybody about the Pudgies Sheet Pizza?

Inside Joke...

Petric? Petric? Ah yes, sheet pizza! (where's Mitch?)

But I digress,

The JS pads are great for straub conversions. Jim Schmidt has made some great improvements to his gold pads and are quite nice. Felt pads are also quite nice. You "can" get a good 20+ years out of felt pads if they are installed correctly and numerous other factors. While straubs have shown to have problems over time at, least David has come up with the right basic ideas to improve padding.

Padding is specialized work. What you might be able to get away with with a felt pad, you can't with a straub pad as far as installation is concerned. And even that doesn't eliminate the tearing problem which is always potentially there. Applying his techniques for straub installation to felt pads makes for great felt repadding also.

Joe B

Im now on my 3rd set of straubinger pads. From what I have experienced the cons of these far far out weigh the pros. It always seems to be the third (ring) finger that causes problems and this is doesn't just seem to be my problem, those keys seem to be the ones which tear. For something that suppoesed to be professional im not impressed with the level of attetion they need and can cause all sorts of problems.

I tried a powell once that had straubinger pads and they seemed to make a clicking noise