Klarinet Archive - Posting 000641.txt from 2005/06

From: Nancy Buckman <eefer@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Humid conditions - effects on the clarinet and reeds
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 19:18:47 -0400

At 06:23 PM 6/30/2005, you wrote:

You and I have both had significant effects in low humidity on bass
clarinets, with
>the long rods jamming. I have never experienced any such problem on a little
>soprano though, and my clarinets have been round the world several times,
>and repeatedly from damp England to dry Colorado and New Mexico. The changes
>in the wood are reversible.

I have had binding problems on my Patricola rosewood clarinets in extremely
dry conditions. Twenty minutes of continuous playing resolved the
problem. My only real difficulty came when one clarinet had to sit on the
stand while I played the other. The binding then became an issue that
required intervention. I removed a small amount of metal from the tubes
and they have been fine since. I don't recommend doing this yourself
though, unless you know what you are doing. The removal of too much metal
can cause problems too. Since returning from OK, I have been waiting for
the middle tenon of my A clarinet to shrink back to normal. It had swollen
so much that it wouldn't even fit in the socket. Oddly, I didn't even play
it while I was there.

>I would incline to using Legere reeds for extremes of either high or low
>humidity.

I love the Legere reeds. I played them exclusively until I switched to
Lomax wood mouthpieces. For some reason, they don't play well on the
wooden Lomax. But I use a rubber Lomax on my e-flat clarinet and the
Legere works fine on it.

>Incidentally I have been using cane reeds for a lot of time since I returned
>to the UK. One great benefit of a long period on Legeres is that I am
>intolerant of reeds that do not play. I expect my cane reeds to work first
>time, with none of this ritual. So I slap them on .... and they do.

Me too, Keith. I don't have the time, the space necessary, or the patience
to keep reeds in different stages of development. If the reed doesn't play
after a swipe or two of reed rush, then out it goes. Fortunately, I have
very few of those. My favorite cane reeds are still the blue box
Vandorens. I also like the Rico Grand Concert Select Evolutions, but they
are very hard to get hold of. In OK I got four complimentary reeds from
Rico's display. Nobody had any for sale. Rico couldn't sell any because
they didn't have a trader's license.

Nancy

Nancy Buckman
Principal Clarinet / Orchestra AACC
eefer@-----.net

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