Klarinet Archive - Posting 000214.txt from 1997/10

From: Jrykorten@-----.com
Subj: Re: klarinet-digest V1 #296
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 13:54:55 -0400

In a message dated 97-10-05 21:32:31 EDT, you write:

<<
Hi everyone! Well, as the subject may tell you this posting is about reed
knives. I am a High Schooler, and am in the process of buying all the
little necessary reed tools. My questions are : Is the pyne reed knife a
good knife, and are there any better? What kind of sand paper should be
used in "fine tuning" a reed? Is the cane used by the Vandoren company in
the making of reeds good cane? Is there a better quality reed that I
could make a switch to? and lastly, what other things do I need to
prepare a reed to play its best, and how do I go about doing so?
>>

Matt, the type of knife hardly matters. In fact you should buy a low cost one
at first because you may find you have specific tastes in knive sharpening.
(I use a hollow ground old razor mounted in a broom handle because I can lay
the metal flat against a sharpening stone and get a super precise edge.)
Spend no more than $20 to begin with.

I find the cane from the Proboe shop to have been very good. They have a web
site, so you should be able to search for "Proboe" and find them. Approx
$45/lb of cane from which you may get 80 reed blanks or about $0.50/reed.
When you add labor you are up around $100 - $200 per reed depending on how
fast you are and your age.

Use wet/dry sandpaper sold in hardware stores (grits 100, 220, 400 and 600
will get you started). You need a good small needle file (fine cut), a medium
size needle file (medium cut) and a good mill file (flat 8" long fine cut).
Also a piece of plate glass sligthly larger than the sandpaper (so you can
tape it down) and a piece of plate glass approximately 1/2" wide and about 1"
longer than a reed so you can work on/adjust a finished reed. I can also not
say enough about the Santy's permanent reed rush (also sold cheaper as a
fishermans hook sharpener in hardware stores) for reed finishing work.

Mark Charrette (Father of Sneezy and at least one animate clarinetist as
well) says the company that "publishes" (published?) Stubbins book - "The
Art of Clarinetistry" is near him in Michigan. Maybe this means they are
publishing the book again? It has and excellent chapter on reed
making/adjusting.

Jerry Korten
NYC