Klarinet Archive - Posting 000052.txt from 1997/08

From: avrahm galper <agalper@-----.com>
Subj: warping reeds
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 1997 21:54:57 -0400

Regarding the warping of reeds, its interesting to read what Carl
Baermann had to say in the section he wrote about reed making: " If a
warp persists, its best to throw the reed away."
That is not always easy to do when reeds cost so much and not everyone
can allow themselves to buy that many reeds.
I never liked to sand the bottom of reeds, simply because I could never
be sure that I got the "middle" of the warp. Furthermore, the reeds
really never played as good as before.
What I did , taking the cue from woodworkers when shaping wood into
different shapes, was this:
I had a little stand that would hold 6 blank mouthpieces. ( I had a
friend of mine flatten the mouthpiece tables so that the reed could lay
flat on it.)
I would try and find 6 good reeds and wet them thoroughly with saliva,
and place them on the flat table of the mouthpiece. I then took the
ligatures( simple ones) and clamped the reed down pretty hard, making
sure that the rounded part of the ligature pressed the heel of the
reed. I did that for about 5-6 days. Whenever the reed was dry, I wet
it again with saliva and clamped it again. Usually after this
procedure, the reeds stayed pretty flat.
klarinet=listservAvrahm Galper