Klarinet Archive - Posting 000166.txt from 2005/07

From: "David B. Niethamer" <dnietham@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] matching reed & mouthpiece tips
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 01:04:31 -0400

>> Ormondtoby Montoya wrote:
>
>> Assuming that (part of) the tip overhangs the mouthpiece, do you also
>> intend to thin the tip wherever you change its shape --- in order
>> that the tip will continue to taper evenly to 'sharp edge' across its
>> entire width?
>>
On Jul 4, 2005, at 4:21 PM, Patricia A. Smith wrote:

> I think also you'd need a much finer sandpaper than 220 (unless
> fine-ness is measured differently in different places). I've always
> tried for at least 600, for tip work on machine-made reeds. Since I
> don't hand-make my reeds, I can't speak to that, but I suspect you'd
> need at least that fine of material.
>
If I understand the two of you, you're talking about two different
things. To shape the tip, give it a proper curve that relates to the
shape of the tip of your mouthpiece, you don't need terribly fine
sandpaper, I use leftover strips from when I used a ReeDuAl to make
reeds. I tear off about a three inch length of 3/4 inch wide 220 grit
sandpaper and shape the tip with that. For thinning and evening out the
thickness of the cane at the tip, I'd use 320-400. 600 is a bit too
fine to do any serious work IMO and experience. Of course, I'm talking
about reeds i make, not commercial reeds. haven't worked on them for a
good while.

I balance my reeds using Tom Ridenour's ATG system, and really like the
results. This is not a paid endorsement - just a satisfied customer.

> As for adjusting to the tip of the mouthpiece, you definitely want to,
> but at the same time, the main thing is not to work on the reed so
> much that you ruin its basic characteristics. I think (and this is a
> personal opinion, YMMV) that many of us mess with reeds way too much,
> and end up with many fewer usable reeds than we would otherwise have,
> if we often were more patient and left well enough alone, and left
> some reeds to themselves for a while, and came back to them later on
> - sometimes quite a bit later. It's been my own experience that
> sometimes I've come back to some reeds as long as a couple of years or
> more later, and they simply played better than they did the first time
> I tried to break them in. BUT... I didn't try to over-"fix" them the
> first time, either. If they were over-resistant, or simply felt
> wrong, I left them be, because life is just too short to mess with one
> or two reeds longer than, what is for me, a set period of time
> (usually a week or two at most - and that is only part of a very short
> practice period to begin with).
>
Ah, the "Know-Nothing" school of reed adjustment!! ;-) (Sorry
Patricia!) I agree that far too many people do too much to their
reeds, do it too quickly, and end up ruining them as a result. If I
don't know exactly what I want to do to a reed on any given day, I do
nothing and try the reed again tomorrow. I only do one operation per
day. If that isn't the final word, I let the reed "rest" and try again
tomorrow. I frequently find that after some operation or other, the
reed is completely different the next time, and often in unexpected
ways. Could be the weather on those days, or whatever, but patience is
a virtue. Larry Guy describes a 10-14 day break-in process in his book
"Selection, Care and Adjustment of Single Reeds" and I find that a good
starting point, whether you agree with all of it or not. In the end,
everyone has to find what works for them.

As for just leaving them alone for a few years, if the reed isn't
physically pretty well balanced, then benign neglect isn't going to
improve them. Around here (Richmond, Virginia, USA), reeds that are too
hard in the heat and humidity of July and August sometimes work better
in November and December. Too soft in the winter, might work in the
summer. After a week's worth of attempts to break in a reed, you have a
pretty good idea of which ones are just not going to work for you, and
you can just trash them.

> Again, YMMV. Everyone has their own system which works for them. And
> when you work up reeds from blanks, it becomes more complex, and, as I
> have not done this, I can't speak to that. Quite a few folks on this
> list do.
>
I shape the tips last. I do it freehand, with the above mentioned
strips from my old ReeDuAl.

Returning to the discussion which I believe started with the issue of
whether matching the shape of the reed tip to the mouthpiece tip was
important, I try to match the shape very carefully. I don't know why,
and I don't know of any scientific evidence that proves it to be
important. On the reeds that I make, I test them with "square" tips
after I get them off the machine, just to assess the general hardness.
After I've shaped the tip, the reed plays "harder". So the reed
material overhanging the tip of the mouthpiece has some effect on the
playing characteristics. What I'd be interested to know is how the
width of the rails, and the corresponding width of the reed to match
those rails, affects the sound of the clarinet. How do narrow rails or
wider rails affect the sound? There must be a physical explanation, but
I've never heard or read one. Dan Johnston (and maybe other mouthpiece
makers) make very wide side rails, much wider than the width of a
typical (french style) reed, so that the reed can be moved from side to
side on the mouthpiece to affect the balance. Is this a real or
imagined effect?

> In fact, I'm curious to know, just how long it took most folks when
> they first started making their own reeds, to make the tip - from
> either a blank, or the entire half of the cane tube. (I'll own up:
> the entire idea kind of scares me. I have visions of wasted cane
> tubes in front of me, and a depleted bank account and no reeds for my
> trouble!)

One or two tips carefully made at first, and it becomes pretty easy. I
have ruined a few in my time, and it's frustrating not because of the
cost of cane (which is relatively cheap) but because of the time
invested in getting the reed that far. Ruining one at the final stage
is a serious bummer, especially if it seemed promising with the
"square" tip. You should be able to reshape the tip of a commercial
reed pretty easily, BTW - the shape is already pretty close. Both
Vandoren V12 and Gonzales reeds have the corners a bit too rounded to
match my mouthpiece exactly, and I see this with most other people's
mpcs as well - even on Vandoren mouthpieces.

David

David B. Niethamer
dnietham@-----.edu
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/index.html

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