Klarinet Archive - Posting 000240.txt from 2001/01

From: "Gene Nibbelin" <gnibbelin@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Reed trimmers
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 01:50:17 -0500

Bill and All -

"Give a clarinetist a reed and he can play for a day (maybe). Give a
clarinetist a reed, a "Cordier" reed trimmer, and teach him (or her) to use
it with the aid of some 400 & 600 wet or dry sandpaper, a flat glass
surface, a small metal straight-edge (to gauge back warpage to be sanded
flat) and a little patience, and he can get many weeks of playing from most
reeds."

More seriously -- I currently have four very good V12s, two of which were
"discards" until I spent a few minutes on several occasions balancing,
sanding and trimming them. Judicious sanding and trimming has even improved
the 2 that were good out-of-the-box. I have found that "balancing" a reed
often converts a throw-away into a good reed. Those who say that they only
get 2 or 3 usable reeds out of every 10, are probably throwing away 7 or 8
reeds that only need to be balanced.

I prepare my reeds with the 10 day soaking, drying and burnishing procedure
that is described in the Klarinet Archives. It appeared 3 or 4 years ago.
Balancing reeds was also described in detail at about this same time as well
as several times since.

Some reeds do not warp (lengthwise) after this 10 day treatment, but some
do. I can tell when this happens when I am playing. This is probably what
some term as the reed all of a sudden "dying". This is where the
straight-edge comes in to show the degree of warpage that needs to be sanded
flat. Avoid sanding the tip, but if the tip gets thinned a little, bring
out the trimmer and trim very small increments until the reed plays the way
you want it to.

Thanks to those who posted this information several years ago. It really
educated me at the time that I was resuming playing after a 40+ year hiatus.

Hope this may help some.

Gene Nibbelin

-----Original Message-----
From: William Wright [mailto:Bilwright@-----.net]
Subject: [kl] Reed trimmers

I've tried to avoid this because I don't enjoy messing with reeds
-- easier to trash them -- but I need to buy a reed trimmer. I
remember that some of you have had bad results with a particular brand
of trimmer. Is the Cordier ($25 mail order) the 'plenty good for the
average Joe' brand?

Thank you,
Bill Wright

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