Klarinet Archive - Posting 000057.txt from 1999/10

From: CmdrHerel@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] Clarinet Reed shelf life, storage
Date: Sat, 2 Oct 1999 21:31:19 -0400

In a message dated 10/2/99 8:55:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
LeliaLoban@-----.com writes:

<< For best results unopened boxes of reeds for seasoning should be wrapped
in
corrugated cardboard and several thicknesses of strong paper so there can be
no changes in the moisture content of the air wrapped with it.... In two or
three years cane will improve greatly.... Some believe that after six or
seven years deterioration begins." (P. 51-52.) He goes on to speculate
that
he thinks reeds could last 30 years without deterioration. He gives a lot
of
other detailed advice in an entire chapter on reeds.

However, I've read at least one other source -- unfortunately I can't locate
it -- that stated unequivocally that fresh reeds play better than old ones.
I have a problem with the vagueness of all such advice. Nobody can define
optimum storage conditions. In Willaman above, for instance, what does "too
moist and cool" mean? How moist? How cool? How dry is too dry? >>

Good questions for the reed entrepreneur... Buy in bulk and store, then sell
like fine aged wine! Could become rich! :D

I haven't built a "reed-cellar" for my reeds, but I do age them, and I do
notice a difference. On the avereed- cellarrage I play on reeds two to three
years old and find they have more "life" than new reeds, meaning that they
last significantly longer and respond with a little more vibrancy than new
ones. (Feel a hair stiffer as well.)

So someone stating that they like new reed response better, certainly has a
valid point, since new reeds do respond differently than aged ones.

My scientific method? I take the plastic wrapping off the boxes, take the
reeds out of the little plastic sleeves (Vandorens), put them back in the
box, mark the box with the date, and stick them on a shelf with the rest of
the boxes. Then I play on them two years later.

Why take them out of the sleeves? My own personal thought is that the
plastic will warp the reed much more than free-sitting will. In fact, I'd
like the reed to warp as the cane would naturally warp, so that when I go to
play on them, I can sand that natural warping out and not have the reed twist
and shout as I feel it would when finally freed from its plastic bondage.

I keep the reed boxes in my studio which is neither damp nor moldy. Dusty,
perhaps, but since aged wines are often covered with dust, I figure that this
must be a good thing. Since I have to practice in this room, the environment
is kept fairly reed and Human friendly year round.

Come to think of it, my joke above could actually be realized by a big
supplier like Vandoren... Age a stock of reeds and sell them for a
disproportionately marked up price... They can call the product, "Reeds Aged
Like They Should Be." I'd buy them.

Teri Herel

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