Anyone know how 2 get rid of a sticky pad? Ive tried a dollar bill,alchol and gettin my screw driver and scraping it! Help!!! PS its the 1st key before the last three on the body joint!!Thanx
Love my flautists!!!(did i spell it Right?) BYE BYE!!!!

Powder paper...
Never use a dollar bill, it just dirties up your pads.

A dollar bill is slightly abrasive, and useful for cleaning verdigris off SAXOPHONE tone holes, where the pads are leather and can cope. Definitely do not use any abrasive material on flute pads. They are far too delicate.

You`ve tried cleaning. Goodness knows what you were doing with the screw driver!!! That is a sure way of wrecking a pad too,

There are three more possibilities:

1. `De-sticky` whatever is sticky: Use Yamaha `Powder Paper`, or make your own.... Rub some talcum powder into the corner area of a tissue. Then shake off all excess, until there is non visible. Slide this under the pad, with the talc side facing the pad. Close the key VERY gently and draw the paper from under the pad. Do this in a couple of different directions. You definitely do NOT want a heap of this powder on the pad, nor anywhere near the mechanism, where it encourages corrosion.

2. Sometimes sticking is caused by the pad membrane being too loose. A technician can `iron` it with a warm metal spatula. I don`t recommend doing this yourself, because if you get it a little too cool it won`t work. A little too hot and the pad membrane will be destroyed. Even if it is just right, there is a fair chance that the pad seating, and key linkage, will need to be adjusted to prevent leaks.

3. Replace the pad. This sounds simple, but to do it with no resulting leaks, and good linkage with other keys needs expertise.

cigarette paper. works great, and not too expensive

There are many causes of pad stickiness. Cigarette paper works for only some of them.

always rinse your mouth out before you play. even if you feel as though you`ve got a clean mouth, you may not.. and that could be gumming up your keys. Never use anything sharp i.e. a screw driver on your pads, you`ll scratch them and create a leak.. which will make you miss notes and sound bad. I`ve never had difficulty using cigarette paper on my keys, I`d like to know what will not be fixed with it.
if the key is seriously bothering you, you can get it replaced. I had two pads replaced last year because of leaking (caused by silver polish coming in contact with them) and it only cost me 35 bucks... maybe it`s worth the splurge if it`s really that annoying.
good luck!

The term "sticky pads" means different things to different people. One meaning is that `click` sound as the pad lifts from the tone hole. SOMETIMES this is caused by not stickiness as such, but by the covering membrane being a little loose, and of a certain shape, so that it works like one of those children`s` clicker toys sometimes found in Christmas crackers. The solution is to tighten the membrane (by `ironing`) or to replace the pad. DRAWING cigarette papers from damp pads is likely to CAUSE a loose membrane on a pad. This membrane is exceptionally delicate while damp.

If some oil gets on a pad, and dries, leaving an invisible film of sticky oil additive, or polymerised oil, resembling half-set varnish, then a cigarette paper will do nothing. A cleaner may remove the additives, but nothing is likely to remove the polymerised oil. Condensed tar from cigarette smoke is similarly difficult to remove.

BTW, it is perfectly possible to play the flute without spitting saliva into it. I played the flute in orchestra pits for many years, with candy in my mouth, with no sugar getting to pads. I stopped this when I started doubling on reeds, which were of course, INSIDE my mouth. For NON-spitting players, the moisture inside the instrument is condensation form the breath, NOT saliva. The breath comes from the lungs, and contains very little more than water vapour and air. It does not collect sugar as it passes through the mouth.

*dies* god I flinched when you said you took a screwdriver to your pad...

next time go to a repair shop and ask them how you can fix it before you take drastic measures

You could have easily done more damage then there already was...

-Leslie

I just dealt with this problem, but I cheated. I took my flute to a really good technician who fixed the stickiness and regulated the flute`s springs, all for twenty-five dollars. (No pads were replaced.)
If you`re struggling, it is sometimes best to turn to the professionals. Otherwise you might damage the instrument.

Best of luck to you--