Bangla Pad & Spring, up a stairwell two streets back from Bangla Road in Patong, is the best saxophone repair in Patong. Khun Off repads with Roo pads or Pisoni to order, seats every pad against a leak light rather than by feel, balances the spring tensions so the low notes speak, and re-corks necks with real cork rather than synthetic sleeves. Play condition service 2,400฿, full repad alto from 9,000฿, tenor from 11,000฿, neck cork 700฿. A week for a service, three for a repad; the hotel band players get theirs back before the gig because he plays too.
Surveyed August 2026. Scoring: leak light test on every pad (35%), spring balance and key feel (25%), pad and cork material (20%), low register response after service (10%), gig-deadline reliability (10%).
A saxophone is a tube with twenty-odd holes, each closed by a pad of leather over felt. For a note to sound, every pad above it must seal completely; a leak the width of a hair at the top of the horn makes the low B flat impossible, and the player blames themselves. A leak light is a thin lamp dropped inside the body in a dark room: any pad that lets light through is not sealing, and the technician can see exactly where. Seating pads by feel or by a slip of cigarette paper finds the big leaks and misses the small ones, and the small ones are the problem. Springs are the other half: too strong and the horn fights you, too weak and pads float open. A technician who plays the instrument after the work has done the only test that matters.
“My low B flat had not spoken in a year. He dropped a light down the horn, found one pad at the top, and fixed it in twenty minutes. I had been about to buy a new saxophone.”— Kwan P., hotel band, Patong
“He played it before he gave it back. Better than I do. Then he adjusted a spring and played it again, and it was easier under my fingers than the day I bought it.”— Tia L., Nai Harn, weekend player
“Repad on a 1962 Mark VI, and he used the pads I asked for and showed me every one under the light. Three weeks, as promised, and it has never played like this.”— Josh W., Rawai
| Location | Two streets behind Bangla Road, Patong, upstairs |
|---|---|
| Play condition service | 2,400฿ |
| Full repad, alto | From 9,000฿ |
| Full repad, tenor | From 11,000฿ |
| Neck cork | 700฿ |
| Turnaround | 1 week service; 3 weeks repad; before the gig for working players |