 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: rick77
Date: 2012-01-05 11:03
Over the past couple of months I've been buying various boxes of reeds in hopes of finding the best reeds for my new mouthpiece set-up. Most of the boxes I've bought have reeds that vary a good bit in strength. In many of those boxes half the reeds are on the harder side and half are on the soft (thin) side. The Vandoren V12's and the Rico Grand Concerts I have seem to be the most problematic with variation in strength.
I can sand down the reeds that are too hard but the soft or thin reeds are just a waste of money so I ordered a Cordier reed trimmer to see if I can salvage the reeds that are too soft or thin.
I used a reed trimmer years ago on sax reeds but I don't remember having such great success with it. Do any of you use a reed trimmer on clarinet reeds that are too thin right out of the box? If so, any tips or suggestions?
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2012-01-05 11:46
IMO trimming a reed in order to make it stiffer requires you to cut off quite a bit, far more than you'd do in order to repair a chipped tip. This might unduly change the characteristics of the reed, far beyond than just increasing the stiffness.
Simply put away your too soft reeds. Comes a day where you buy yet another mouthpiece, or return from a 2 month playing hiatus and are glad to have something softer around the house.
--
Ben
Post Edited (2012-01-05 13:08)
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Author: DrewSorensenMusic
Date: 2012-01-05 12:40
I agree with Ben, if you clip a reed, you change the whole shape of the reed, not only does the tip get a bit harder, but the heart moves forward. I'm pretty sure this will lead to an overall darker sound than the reed started with. But maybe you could just relegate those reeds to practice reeds.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2012-01-05 12:56
During WWII when reeds were scarce we trimmed and trimmed of necessity and the sound suffered. IMO it's a waste of time for most players today.
Bob Draznik
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Author: LJBraaten
Date: 2012-01-05 17:56
when I trim, I often have to shave the edges, and perhaps thin it. sometimes the sound is improved, sometimes not. If it is more playable it becomes a practice reed.
NB I am a rank amateur!
LJ
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2012-01-05 19:10
I don't agree that you can't make a soft reed play good, even great. It does depend on the quality of the cane of course and how thin or soft the reed is. It's been my experience that by doing what I suggest with tapering before clipping I've not only saved a great many but many of my best reeds have come out of that process. Especially reeds that have become a little soft after a few weeks. It's not very complicated to do but it does take a bit of practice and a very light touch. I learned this from Joe Allard, my bass clarinet teacher and have been very successful doing it. It works best once a reed is broken in and becomes a little soft in the process but also works on reeds that are a bit soft to start with. Read my reed articles on my website and then practice doing what I suggest, it works very well. ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2012-01-05 19:17
BobD, very interesting comments about reeds during World War II. I've heard stories here and there about this, but with few details. Since most cane comes from France (which for much of the war was occupied by the Nazis), were any new reeds ever available, and if so, where did they come from? Were any synthetic reeds available?
Getting back to Rick's question: About 40 years ago, I was introduced to a reed trimmer for the first time. I thought it was one of the greatest things that had ever been invented, and I just had to have one. It got a lot of use in its early years.
Then, for many years I hardly used it at all. It didn't seem to help most of the reeds I used, and it usually made things worse. A few years ago, when I started using Rico Reserves, I decided to pull it out once more. For some reason, a reed trimmer works well with these reeds. I'll trim a very small portion from the tip of a reed that's too soft, and it usually does the job without any other adjustments being necessary.
Post Edited (2012-01-05 19:19)
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Author: rick77
Date: 2012-01-06 01:17
Thanks guys for all of the great input concerning reed trimming. The Cordier reed trimmer will arrive tomorrow so I'll give it a whirl on some of the reeds I have that are to soft. Hopefully I'll find that it does a great job on the Rico Grand Concert 3.5's and the Vandoren V12 3's and 3.5's that are too soft. If not most of those reeds are worthless to me. That doubles the price of the decent reeds in each box. So the price for some of the useable reeds ends up being $5.00 or more each. I sure hope that reed trimmer works well.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2012-01-06 05:27
Cordier reed trimmer is a good choice.
As far as reeds go I don't care if they are too hard or too soft. With a tiny bit of work you can get either of these reeds to play great. How many times do you pop on a new reed and it plays great, really great. After a week or 2 the really really great reed is a bit soft. hmmmm Some people may throw them out. I will clip them and sand the bottom of the reed just a tiny bit and suddenly that soft reed comes to life for another 4 or more weeks.
Anyway, Eddie is right on and I'm sure he works hard at getting reeds to play well and fill up his orchestra hall.
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2012-01-06 19:35
With the Cordier trimmer a useful tip is to back off the reed once you have pressed the blade to trim it but before releasing it back up. Sometimes the tip can tear slightly on the return stroke if you don't do this.
That's why I mostly use my old VD trimmer for Bb/A reeds.
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Author: rick77
Date: 2012-01-06 20:36
The Cordier reed trimmer came in today and I've been using it on some of the "too soft out of the box" reeds that I have aquired over the past couple of months. While I've gotten positive results, trimming these reeds has not really turned them into performance quality reeds. I think some of them will be much more playable as practice reeds so maybe the reed trimmer will cut down the number of wasted reeds per box.
I'll need to spend more time with this tool and visit some of the links offered in this thread that deal with adjusting reeds to see just how far the reed trimmer will take me in improving imperfect reeds.
Thanks everyone for all of the valuable input in this thread!
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2012-01-07 13:40
For working on a reed I have found the article Romancing the Reed, in The Clarinet, about 20 years ago, to be most comprehensive and useful.
richard smith
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