 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jaydee2167
Date: 2008-02-24 18:49
If you buy a box of 4's, and you sand it, clip it, adjust it, etc, etc, doesn't that actually thin and soften the redd to maybe a 3 or 3.5???
How much original resistance is actually lost on modifications.
If you say you are using a 4, is it actually a 3??
jaydee
everett, wa..
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2008-02-24 19:07
clipping a reed makes it harder, sanding makes it softer.
--
Ben
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Author: stevesklar
Date: 2008-02-24 21:57
"how much original resistance is actually lost .."
depends how much, where you make modifications. near the tip, on the sides, behind the tip, etc. The reed has alot of locations where you can make modifications.
there are websites out there which help identify those locations, there's also sections in books about it .. unfortunatl I don't have links nor can I think of which books i've read about it. but do some searching, there's plenty of information out there.
==========
Stephen Sklar
My YouTube Channel of Clarinet Information
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Author: GBK
Date: 2008-02-24 22:11
If you are buying #4 reeds to make them into #3's, you are wasting an incredible amount of time and energy.
Sanding, clipping and making major adjustments all change the basic profile and template. Clipping alone moves the heart of the reed higher, necessitating other reed adjustments to compensate.
A good rule to remember:
New reeds out of the box should play slightly harder than you need.
Anything more than that - you are playing the wrong strength ...GBK
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2008-02-25 02:08
Well, one thing to think about is that the external shape of reeds is the same within any brand/model and that the difference in hardness is due to the difference in the hardness of the cane itself. So... taking a hard reed and making is softer gives you the cane of a hard reed with the resistance of a softer one. but doing this will not make a box of 4s turn into a box of 3s, because they are both made with different cane. Also, doing all that changes the shape of the reed and maybe you want the reed to have a different shape, right?
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-02-25 02:32
I don’t understand why you would sand a reed if it were not to hard, or clip a reed if it’s not too soft, or make any modifications to a reed unless it needs it. I seal the bottom of my reeds on the “Back” of the sand paper unless the reed is very hard or stuffy and then only after it is broken in and balanced. If all your new reeds need sanding you probably need to use a slightly softer reed, if all your reeds are to soft you probably need a slightly harder reed. I’m most successful with the number and brand-type that play as close to what I want out of the box then break them in slowly, 4-5 days, seal the bottoms and make slight modifications a little at a time. The less you have to do the better. ESP
www.peabody.jhu.edu/457
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Author: jaydee2167
Date: 2008-02-25 04:40
Ed, et al;
I guess I did not make myself clear.
I did not say I wanted to sand a reed. I have read all the reed-conditioning threads here. Most of them involve some kind of removing material, including sanding, rounding edges, evening out the arch, straightening the butt, etc.
All I asked was-- do those treatments change the strength of a reed.
Could it change a Box#4 to an actual 3, as an example.
The replies were excellent for all the knowledge they contained, however...
jaydee
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Author: weberfan
Date: 2008-02-25 15:34
jaydee's original question is a good one.
if you get, say, a 4 reed fresh out of the box and you use, say, Tom Ridenour's system for sanding/balancing reeds, are you seriously softening a reed to make it playable?
and in that case, since reeds out of the box are so undependable, should you automatically go up a notch when you buy; ie, if you play a 3 should you buy a 3.5 or a V12 4 with the expectation that you will be sanding/softening most of the reeds back down to a 3 level?
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Author: susieray
Date: 2008-02-25 19:31
Well, if you are adjusting them properly you are not "sanding them back down to a 3 level" but balancing them so both sides of the reed respond the same way and maybe thinning the tip a little. Generally not messing with the heart of the reed. And like sky said, they are made from different strength cane; ie, a #3 is not thinner than a 4. It is just softer/weaker cane to begin with.
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Author: armadillo
Date: 2008-02-25 20:25
I use VD V12 #3s, of which the average strength of a box is right where I want it. However it often seems when I pull out a new reed that is slightly too hard, over the next few playings it gets even harder and stuffier, but when I open a new reed that is slightly too soft, instead of getting slightly harder to get to my ideal strength, it just gets softer!
Does anyone else experience this phenomenon?
buffet R13, VD M30, V12 #3, VD Klassik (perf. & reh)/Rovner leather(practice)
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Author: weberfan
Date: 2008-02-25 21:07
susieray...thanks. that's what i was banking on.
the light sanding at the tip and ears does seem to work well on fresh reeds, and i sense no sacrifice in strength over the weeks i'm playing them.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-02-26 01:35
Jaydee, sorry I didn’t actually answer your question. Making a reed softer does not actually make a 4 into a 3 though it may make it respond as a 3. The same a clipping a reed, it may make it harder but does not make a 3 into a 4 but it may make it play like a 4. In theory, the 4 should be thicker proportionately then the 3 so sanding will not necessarily make it the same, just softer. The problem is that most reed boxes may have a softer reed or a harder reed than the average because cutting the reeds doesn’t take into consideration the density of the cane. Two reeds cut exactly the same, one being more dense than the other, will not produce the same hardness, or softness. Even if all the pointes of a reed are exactly the same at cutting the denser reed will play harder than the less dense. It’s a crapshoot. If only the reed manufactures cut reeds by density instead of thickness we wouldn’t have this problem. Hard cane, soft cane, uneven grain, density, these all have to be considered when adjusting a reed. Just sanding only deals with one aspect. ESP
www.peabody.jhu.edu/457
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Author: larryb
Date: 2008-02-26 20:43
The easiest way to turn a #4 reed into a #3 reed is to just sand the part of the reed that says "4" and until the number disappears, then write "3" in its place (using a #2 pencil). Then you'll have a #3 reed.
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