Lesson Learned - 5/11/12

Further investigation is required, but I think today I learned that when shimming a flute pad, using a full shim that fits very snugly in the pad cup can cause the pad to distort once it's secured in place with the screw and washer. I've always been careful not to use full shims that are significantly smaller than the pad cup for fear that they would move around under the pad and change the way the pad protrudes from the pad cup. It never occurred to me that a snug shim could cause problems, too. I suspect that it's because the shim warps once the pad is against it and bubbles up in certain places, warping the pad.