The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Micke Isotalo ★2017
Date: 2016-03-04 17:41
If you would like to store already broken-in reeds for use weeks or months later, should you break-in them once again before you start using them next time?
How about differing humidity where you store them, like dry, normal or humid?
Micke Isotalo
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Author: kdk
Date: 2016-03-04 17:53
"Break in" is meant to condition a raw piece of cane to accept and hold water during playing to make the reed vibrant and comfortable to play. A new reed tends to soak up too much water, which makes it fairly quickly become too soggy and unresponsive. So, in theory, there's be no reason to break in an old reed because it has been left unused for a long time. If anything, the reed may need extra wetting the first time it's resurrected if it has become really dried out.
But, all of that said, you really need to react to what actually happens. If the stored reed seems to be soaking up too much too quickly, then maybe it wasn't fully conditioned in the first place. I would think you'd need to see how the specific reed reacts when you take it out of storage and start to use it.
Karl
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2016-03-04 19:03
I agree with Karl.
I have probably 20 or more reeds in rotation or occasional use (especially those reserved for performance) and some of those have been in the rotation sytem for 5 -10 years.
I always do an extensive initial break in between 5-8 days but thereafter there has been no further break in needed even after months of non-use.
As Karl notes sometimes they need a little extra wetting but this becomes obvious within the first few minutes of playing and once that is done they perform just as last time used.
Fortunately in UK we get few extremes of climate or humidity which helps.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2016-03-04 21:26
He'd be planning their use for very much later - he's apparently using Legeres these days, not cane.
Karl
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2016-03-04 21:38
True Karl--
...have a theory that he secretly plays on cane in private practice sessions so as to not violate endorsement contract terms
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2016-03-06 23:50
Once I've broken in my reeds I keep them in my reed case humidity controlled and if they were good after break in they remained good for months and months until I was ready to put them into rotation.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: kdk
Date: 2016-03-07 03:39
Ed, I'm sure you've said this before, but to save me an archive search, what humidity level do you maintain in your reed case?
Karl
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