Re-padding was uneventful, save for a couple key geometry issues which weren’t unexpected, being made by Selmer. It works, but it’s not all that pleasant to do by hand. For lack of a buffing machine, my solution is Flitz polish.
Unlike the Normandy done prior, the keys are in dire need of polishing. In addition to the dirt and grime, the pads on this thing were rough. I hope even one person benefits from that knowledge so my being embarrassingly pedantic was not in vain.) (Fun fact – serial numbers on these are King serials, not those of Selmer. I don’t know if they’re unique to this model, but I don’t think any other Selmer-built stencils used them. This is one of the latter, identical to a Buescher Aristocrat (which itself is simply a Bundy Resonite with inline trill keys) except for the tenon rings. The first Tempos were made by Schreiber in Germany, later ones were made by Selmer USA. King never made their own plastic clarinets. So the first one’s out of the way, what’s next? Sifting through the pile I decided to take care of the dirtiest one: A King Tempo, from around 1975-76.
