 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: clarinet977
Date: 2009-01-20 19:28
Anyone have any suggestions for keeping reeds flat? Even with the case they often seem to warp. Also, does anyone have a good technique for breaking in reeds?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2009-01-20 20:17
I brake in my reed like this:1st time I blow it a little bit and check if it's properly balanced and if not then I balance it and play it for couple of minutes just in the middle register of the horn and around mf. Next day I play it for 5 minutes,3rd day 10 minutes and 4th day 15 and often 20 minutes the 5th day. After the 5th day it goes into my rotation. So the point is not to take a new reed to a rehearsal and when the director stops and begin to talk then by the time he finish it has dried and warped.
Then I keep my reed case in a freezer bag along with Doctors desiccant canister(just one because the humidity never goes over 70% here in Iceland) and humidity indicator strip. Then the reed will dry out evenly and it will not mold. Hope this helps.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kdk
Date: 2009-01-21 00:59
Partly, an answer to your first question depends on what you mean by "they often seem to warp." Do you mean the back surface of the reed, which should normally be flat, becomes convex? Or do you mean the crinkling that happens to the tip of a reed when you first wet it?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: pelo_ensortijado
Date: 2009-01-21 10:30
when the back warps: even it out with very smooth sandpaper or a plain drawingpaper.
be shure not to overdo it so the reed gets to soft.
the tipwarping thing you just have to live with. to minimize the "damage": when you have finished playing, put it in a reedholder that keep the reed against a flat surface(sp?) with some kind of light preassure on it. glas and rubberbands work good for me.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kdk
Date: 2009-01-21 16:28
Well, I asked which was meant because the tip crinkling, which isn't really warping, is a more or less normal part of reed use. You can deal with it by just wetting the reed longer - until the wrinkles straighten out - or, as some players do, press the tip flat against a smooth surface (can be the flat table of the mouthpiece) after you've first wet it. But it doesn't indicate a damaged reed.
Warpage along the back of a reed can be straightened by light sanding, but in my experience it almost always turns out that you'll have thinned the heart area too much and taken too much of the resistance out of the reed's profile. I know some players do this and successfully use the reeds, but my experience has been that a reed that has warped enough to be detectable usually can't be recovered. The best way to deal with warpage is not to encourage it to happen in the first place. One thing I've found (completely contrary to conventional wisdom) that has worked for me is to use reed holders that keep the reed on its edge, not flat. That way both surfaces of the reed are exposed to air and can dry evenly. Buffet used to include plastic versions of this kind of reed case with its clarinets years - decades - ago, but I haven't seen one of theirs recently. A few of the commercial holders - especially some of the cheap "reed-guard" type plastic ones - have grooves in the flat surface the reed rests against to provide some air flow and evaporation to the underside of the stored reeds. Another thing you can do when it's convenient is to dry the reed lying on its bark side (again, so air gets to and moisture evaporates from both top and bottom surfaces) before you put it into a holder of any kind.
I'll leave the second question about reed break-in procedures to someone else - I just wet a new reed and play on it. If it gets too waterlogged after a few minutes the first time I use it, I switch reeds and wait until it's dried out before I use it again.
Karl
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2009-01-21 16:36
Well if I don't put my reed in a freezer bag along with Doctors desiccant canister then the tip will crinkle and often warp specially during winter when we have here in Iceland maybe frost in the morning,rain and over 0°C in the middle of the day and snow and some frost in the evening. But If I use the desiccant canister I will almost never have ether of this problems.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MBrad
Date: 2009-01-21 17:20
Let it dry for a few minutes (not for too long!) bark-side-down on a flat surface before putting it in a normal glass case. Otherwise it will warp convex, which seems to be less desirable than slightly concave or perfectly straight and flat, at least to me. I have found that you should never leave it against a flat surface when it is still wet as it almost certainly will do something you don't want it to as it dries.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2009-01-21 22:13
Well often I don't have time to let it dry out a bit like this before I put it in my reed case and the desiccant is not expensive.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MBrad
Date: 2009-01-22 00:05
To Iceland clarinet:
I've always wondered how well those things work...it's usually dry enough in Montréal that I don't have to wait long for it to dry, though there have been times in summer when I've considered getting a desiccant.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sambo 933
Date: 2009-01-22 01:40
I take a piece of paper, lay the reed flat against it bottom down, apply equally distributed pressure to it and slide it around on the paper.
If That doesn't work I adjust it with some super fine sand paper.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
