 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-03-18 16:06
Dear Freinds: Just thought I would post what I do with a box of V12 and share some of the ideas I have about getting these reeds to work better. First thing first.
1. I always wet the reed with water before testing, not salivia.
2. I blow a 2 octave scale to find out the resistance of the reed.
3. if the reed is resistant or plays stuffy I then begin to lightly remove only light grains of reed with a very sharp exact knife from the tip area where I see pockets of thickness. I then go back and run the same scale in the same way.
4. If this poses a problem, then I move to looking at the rails as a source of trouble. If the right or left rails are perceptably larger, I then commence removing a slight amount of cane from the enlarge area. I also try to make sure the rails on both sides are of equal thickness. As I am doing this i am also play testing.
5. If the rails are fine, and the reed is stiff still I go back to removing cane. This once again is also done(make sure you remove the cane only outward from the vamp. A back and forth motion will ruin or make the cane play worse. As to polishing cane I have mixed feeling about rubbing the playing part. This has a deadening effect on the cane in my opinion. You should notice the right side of the Vandoren cane below the tip is always a bit harder. this can be checked my manually bending the reed backwards and forwards(gently!). Some players also get good results with the dutch rush but alas this technique has never worked for me too well.
6. I never play on the new reed longer than 10 or 15 minutes a day. I also prefer to only play legato and smooth music, and feel hard staccatto and loud playing is hard on the cane and may cause reed death to follow quickly. After about 3 or 4 days then you can begin to work in the cane over longer periods of practice...
7. As for reed storage I like to leave the reeds in the plastic cases and use a pencil to mark the reed.
Generally I also like to have a reed knife hand once the reed is working in case dirt needs to be removed from the very tip. this happens quite a while after you have the reed working and may make a decent reed seem hard or suddenly play quircky....
David Dow
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Author: larryb
Date: 2003-03-18 19:20
david,
thanks for that helpful information. I think I'll give it a try tonight.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-03-18 19:32
David...Nice concise helpful advice which takes some of the mystery out of reed adjustments.
I would further add to your fine posting:
One additional step that I take is after the initial break-in period of a few days I run the back of the reed knife a few times over the back of the reed to reflattten any possible swelling which may have taken place. Just be careful not to let the back of the knife (or flat file) go completely up to the tip - stop approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the tip area.
Aside from insuring a perfectly flat reed bottom, this additional step seems to free up any sluggishness which may have developed after break-in...GBK
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Author: Heidi
Date: 2003-03-18 23:30
Hello!
Here's a related question......I've been taught, but I don't see any mention of it here, to 'seal' the reed with a piece of paper ( I use construction paper) by rubbing the reed (back side) across the paper in circular motions to make it flat....also, rubbing the top side of the reed to get rid of excess particles of wood. Is this something I should continue? Sometimes it makes it better, sometimes it doesn't.
Just curious!
Heidi
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Author: CPW
Date: 2003-03-18 23:35
Paper = 2000 grit on the sandpaper scale , so what this does is finely polish the reed back. I think I also so this in Grabners book.
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