Klarinet Archive - Posting 000147.txt from 2001/11

From: MVinquist@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Picking Reeds Out of the Box
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2001 17:36:06 -0500

Someone asked about selecting reeds out of a box in the music store. There's
no way to tell what will sound good, but there are some obvious things to
look for to reject the ones that have no chance.

Glance through and reject the obvious duds - broken tip, obviously uneven or
off-center cut, misshapen tip, etc.

Look at the butt end of each reed. Reject any where the shape is not
symmetrical -- higher on one side than the other. These will be impossible
to balance. Also, reject any reed where the blank is so thin that the edge
of the bark meets the bottom.

Hold a reed horizontal, vamp up, reed going east/west. Reject the reed if
the edge of the bark isn't the same distance from the bottom all the way
along. Turn the reed the other way and check that side. Reject a reed where
the bark-to-bottom distance isn't the same on both sides.

While holding the reed the same way, check the profile along the edge of the
vamp, on both sides. It should graduate down smoothly, with the taper doing
as far as possible toward the tip.

This should quickly let you reject 1/2 to 2/3 of the reeds in a box.

Then, hold up the reeds to the light and check for the grain. It should be
even, with no extremely dark lines running all the way to the tip. At the
same time, you can make sure the color is balanced from side to side. Reject
any reed where the light coming through has a green tinge. This indicates
cane that wasn't seasoned enough.

Finally, look again at the butt. On well seasoned cane, there is a dark line
running along the bottom of the bark. Again, presence of the line doesn't
guarantee a good reed, but I've found that its absence more often than not
indicates mushy cane and dull tone.

Best regards.

Ken Shaw

---------------------------------------------------------------------