Klarinet Archive - Posting 000882.txt from 2000/10

From: MVinquist@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Balancing reeds
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 17:45:23 -0400

On October 11, Karl Krelove said:

> ...some players argue that the reed should be stiffer on the left to
compensate for a counter-clockwise rotating effect they feel is caused by
the way the clarinet is held on the right thumb. My experience has been that
Vandorens (traditional or V12) _seem_ actually to be cut this way and need
more often to be thinned a little on the left side. I don't own measuring
equipment sensitive enough to actually measure the cut. Does anyone else?

Karl -

I use a dial micrometer to check my reed finishing, on which I can read and
make thickness adjustments of a quarter of a thousandth (0.00025"), using a
knife, a flat file and 1200 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper. When I was learning
to do this, I spent hours matching my model reeds to the model, measuring at
increments of maybe 3/64" across and up the reed.

Of course that was finer than it really need to be. Even at the most
sensitive spots, a thickness difference of about half a thousandth (0.0005")
is the smallest one I could feel in playing. Also, as I got more practiced
at it, I learned to skip a lot of the intermediate measurements and simply
blend them in.

The advice to make the reed stiffer on the left to counteract the rotation of
the clarinet on the thumb comes from Daniel Bonade's Reed Manual (still
available from Leblanc). Frankly, I have never found the rolling to happen,
and my reeds play best when exactly balanced left and right. What does make
a big difference is Kalmen Opperman's technique of making the reed very
slightly narrower than the outside of the mouthpiece rails, holding the reed
on with your thumb and testing it a microscopic amount left or right to find
the most resonant spot, and then carefully putting the ligature on to hold
the reed just right.

Best regards.

Ken Shaw

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