Klarinet Archive - Posting 000259.txt from 2002/02

From: "David B. Niethamer" <dnietham@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Handmade reeds
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 21:40:10 -0500

on 2/14/2002 10:12 PM, you wrote:

>I've been making my own reeds again, and am having a problem in that I
>can't get the reeds to last more than a few days, at most. I've been
>using Glotin, Rigotti, and Olivieri blanks, all of which I think are
>reputable blanks. When I used to make reeds a few years ago from Steuer
>blanks, the reeds seemed to last 4-6 weeks. Does this seem to be a cane
>problem, or could it be that I'm doing something to cause this? I
>suspect it's me.

I'd suspect the cane!! If you had a routine that worked on the Steuer
blanks, and it isn't working on the new cane, then it must be the cane,
unless you've inadvertently changed your process.

You are curing the blanks before cutting the reeds, I presume?

Never cared for Olivieri cane, but used Rigotti successfully. Never tried
Glotin. I've been successfully using Argendonax cane for about 18 months,
and highly recommend it. Their web site is:

<http://www.argendonax.com.ar>

I recently bought Reeds Australia tubes, and after a few batches of
reeds, am ready to give up on it. I had the same problem you are
describing - even after careful curing of the blanks, and a careful break
in period, the reeds died very quickly. I basically follow Larry Guy's 10
day break in process from his book "Selection and Adjustment of Single
Reeds", which is available from Gary Van Cott.

HTH

David

David Niethamer
Principal Clarinet, Richmond Symphony
dnietham@-----.edu
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/

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