Klarinet Archive - Posting 000258.txt from 2004/09
From: X-MailScanner-tom.henson@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Ridenour ATG Reed Finishing Kit
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 13:29:57 -0400
I recently purchased the Ridenour ATG Reed Finishing kit from Tom and
wanted to share my experience with it so far and find out if anyone is using
this to finish and balance reeds. If so, how is it working out for you?
First, we all struggle with reeds. I feel the more each of us can learn
about reeds, the better our results will be. There are so many good brands
of reeds available today and so many choices. I do not necessarily hold the
theory that reeds were better back in the "good old days" and reeds today
are horrible. There were very good and bad reeds back then, just as there
are very good and bad reeds today. I have been doing some study of Ralph
McLane and find that he was fanatical about the selection of his reeds way
back in the 1940's, rejecting many reeds just by looking at them in the
light. This discussion is not about that necessarily, but the way people
balance them.
I have used the Reed Wizard with good success in the past to balance
commercial reeds, but this expensive tool is only made for a very specific
purpose, and does not do all things that might need to be done in the
process to balance a reed, so it's use is limited by design.
In my ever constant quest for improvement and experimentation, I have now
purchased Tom's ATG system. ATG stands for "Against the Grain" by the way
due to the way it is used.
I have used this system on about 40 reeds so far in about 10 days of use. My
results have been both good and bad. Very satisfied and very frustrated at
the same time. Here is what I have found out in my experience with this
system.
1). Do not use this on a wet reed. Tom mentions this in one part of the
instruction book and he means it. I have ruined several very good reeds by
trying to finish the tip when it was wet. This resulted in small chips being
torn from the tip and the edge of the ears. Not good, either clip reed and
start over or throw reed away.
2). Make sure the tip is not warped as this will result in even worse
problems when the tip become too thin in some spots and not in others. Tom
also mentions this. Either clip reed and start over or throw away.
3). I have found, and so does Tom recommend, that you should sstart with a
reed that is a little harder than you normally use. I generally use a 3 1/2
strength. I tried his system on several brands at that strength (3 1/2)
that work very well for me right out of the box and ended up with reeds that
were way to soft and tips that were way too thin. This causes the sound to
become thin, shrill and weak, lacking any depth.
This poses a problem for me and I feel others, unless you have a stock of
reeds harder than you typically use. This one thing alone leads me to
believe that the cost factor to make up for the purchase of this system may
not have as quick a payback if you have to go out and buy new reeds to make
it work. I have had to go out and purchase # 4 strength in those brands that
I normally use and really like.
I did happen to have # 4 strength in my reed draw of some other brands and
these are the ones that came out the best. Tom does not recommend clipping
the reed unless you really have to, and does say that you might want to
start with a harder reed than normal. Therefore, I can almost guarantee that
you will end up clipping just about all of your normal strength reeds if you
use his system.
Now for the good part. I did have to read his instructions and watch the
video that comes with his system several times, going back to it at times to
make sure I was doing it properly. His system involves using a sanding block
with a coarse abrasive paper on one side and a fine abrasive paper on the
other. Keep in mind that all operations you perform with this method ONLY
takes material away from the reed and the vamp. You can never put back what
you take off. So if you go a little too far, you will end up with a ruined
reed or have to clip it and start over. Too much clipping will lead to reed
imbalance anyway and thus should be avoided.
I am still frustrated in balancing the ears using his "ping" method. I have
worked on reeds until I felt that they were both "pinging" the same on each
side, but yet still did not pass his pitch test. When I then tried to fine
tune the tip and ears, I sometimes took off too much and ended up with a
reed that was worse, not better. This is not the fault of his system, but of
my experience using it and I am having a hard time with the learning curve.
I have a feeling that if you make your own reeds or are comfortable
adjusting them that this system will be much less a problem to learn.
I have managed to get several reeds that are very close to being perfectly
balanced. This was a real eye opener for me, as I thought that I used
several brands of reeds that were well balanced to begin with and they were.
But this system can take them and make them even better.
I found that in the end, it is all about feel. How does the reed feel when
you play. Does it feel like it is vibrating evenly on both sides. Part of
the learning curve is learning how a well balance reed feels when you play
it.
I have also discovered a couple of things as well. You use less pressure on
a reed that is well balanced to get it to respond, and this can mean more
endurance for your embouchure because it does not have to work as hard. This
also results in using less jaw and lip pressure which discourages biting.
Finally, I found that I could take a well balanced reed and slap it on the
mouthpiece completely dry and it will play perfectly. It does not play any
harder than when wet. I have a feeling that we tend to use too much water
when wetting our reeds because they are not well balanced and we need to
soften them up to get them to vibrate. The sound that you get from a well
balanced reed will have more depth and resonance to it as well, so your tone
should also improve just from using a well balanced reed.
Overall, I am pleased, but still struggling to consistently make the reeds
perfectly balanced. I do not find that this system will take a reed that is
poorly cut, has poor cane, or has the heart off to one side and make it a
great reed. It will make it better, but you have to have a good reed to
start with in order to make a great reed.
Tom Henson
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