Klarinet Archive - Posting 000546.txt from 1999/02

From: George Kidder <gkidder@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Reed Aging
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 21:01:51 -0500

I was also interested in Fernando's experiment, since I had had similar
thoughts without doing anything about them. The trachea of the reed are
there (biologically) as water passages. They still work after the plant is
dead - indeed, the cells of which they are made are dead (in the living
plant) before they can function this way. As the reed is shaped, all of the
trachea which have one end on the vamp have their other end in the heel. We
hear lots about "sealing" the vamp with rubbing, nose oil, etc., but it
stands to reason that one could prevent much of the water uptake by sealing
the other end, with the advantage that the sealant should have little effect
on the critical part of the reed.

I imagine others have noticed that reeds which seem porous when you suck on
them always seem to be not so stable as the reeds which are tighter. I also
imagine that Fernando's treated reeds admit very little air when you suck on
them.

But - in a field as intensely personal as the preparation and selection of
reeds, it would be good to have the data, not just the conclusion. So:
Fernando and Ed - can you share the data on which your conclusions were
based, so the rest of us might have a starting point for trying it
ourselves? And are there others who have tried sealing the heel? And with
what effect?

the Elephant's Child

At 05:20 PM 2/14/99 -0600, you wrote:
>On Sun, 14 Feb 1999, Fernando Silveira wrote:
>
>> On my dissertation I could affirm that if you put nail polish on the
>> "heel" of the reed will help to prevent the reed became with a lot of
>> moisture, sealing the reed.
>
>I believe this is true, for single reeds as well as for bassoon reeds. I
>discovered it by accident while making bassoon reeds. But, I don't know
>why it works. It seems counter-intuitive. We might imagine that if the
>ends of the fibres are left open, moisture molecules could escape there,
>but it doesn't seem to work that way. Any suggestions or theories about
>why this works?
>
>Ed Lacy
>el2@-----.edu
>
>
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