 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Vubble3
Date: 2014-07-18 00:21
I got these two boxes of 56's and I am debating whether i should take all 20 reeds out of the plastic wrap and store the other ten away or take out the ones that I will use.
anyways, any advice is appreciated.
Buffet Bb R13 A RC Prestige
buffet chadash and moennig barrels
Lomax classic lig
b40 lyre
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Author: nbclarinet
Date: 2014-07-18 00:54
I recently switched to rue lepics! I have found that with all vandoren reeds, it helps to take the plastic and flow packs off to let them acclimate to your climate. YMMV
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Author: as9934
Date: 2014-07-18 01:53
Ideally you should store them on a flat piece of glass to prevent warping until you play them. You may also want to soak them in lukewarm water for about 30 seconds before playing them for the first time. After soaking play each reed for 10-120 seconds, making sure to check response in each register. After that wipe excess moisture from the reed and store back on the flat glass. The reeds you don't want to unwrap you can store in a gallon sized ziploc bag with humidifier packs or orange peels.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Wind Ensemble
Buffet E11 clarinet , Vandoren Masters CL6 13 series mouthpiece w/ Pewter M/O Ligature, Vandoren V12 3.5
Yamaha 200ad clarinet, Vandoren B45 mouthpiece, Rovner ligature
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2014-07-18 02:09
"The reeds you don't want to unwrap you can store in a gallon sized ziploc bag with humidifier packs or orange peels."
As the reeds have not been unwrapped and are still hermetically sealed what benefit will be gained by this storage procedure?
Tony F.
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Author: as9934
Date: 2014-07-18 09:51
If you have not yet unwrapped them you can forgo the orange peels. Keeping them in a ziploc just keeps them together. Check out these videos about reed care
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swVSeGSXjCk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y0Zv3EZ-Ms
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Wind Ensemble
Buffet E11 clarinet , Vandoren Masters CL6 13 series mouthpiece w/ Pewter M/O Ligature, Vandoren V12 3.5
Yamaha 200ad clarinet, Vandoren B45 mouthpiece, Rovner ligature
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Author: kdk
Date: 2014-07-18 16:45
If you find that the backs of the reeds are warping when you dry them flat on the glass, try drying them with the flat side up instead. My own experience is that drying reeds (or any thin wood product) on a flat surface that's impenetrable to air increases the chance of warping considerably.
What you do with the reeds after they're dry is another issue. You can then store them flat side down on the glass if you like. Many players try to keep their reeds humidified even in storage by keeping Reed Vitalizers or similar products in sealed bags with the reed cases.
Most of my friends who play Vandorens have come around to removing the packaging from all the reeds in a new box and exposing them to local conditions for a couple of weeks before they try to use them. I've personally not found much difference either way, but I don't think you hurt anything by taking the foil wrap off. I don't see any real advantage here in suburban Philadelphia in having my new reeds acclimated to conditions in Paris on the day they were packaged.
Karl
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Author: William
Date: 2014-07-18 18:27
Many of us have our own methods for breaking in and adjusting cane reeds, but here is what Larry Combs (retired Principal clarinetist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) had to say during a clinic given at the old (now closed) International Musical Suppliers store. He more or less said, "I don't have time to break in reeds--I just empty the whole box into a glass of water, let them soak a while and then, if they don't play, I just throw them away." As a side note, for that clinic he played on a Legere reed.
Personally, I have no break-in or adjustment method as I DON'T NEED ONE. I use Forestone reeds on all of my clarinets and saxophones and am in synthetic reed Heaven. No more hassles, just assemble my instrument, put the reed on the mpc and play away. Forestone reeds are always ready to play, requiring no moistening and remain vibrant for the entire gig or practice. My clarinet mouthpiece is a Chicago Kaspar #14 with either a Vandy Optimum (parallel rail insert) or a Winslow ligature. On alto sax, I'm using a Selmer "Jazz" metal C*, Winslow lig and on tenor, I'm using a Guardala Studio metal or a Selmer C* rubber (short shank) with Winslows. Good luck with your inconsistent cane, my Forestone reeds are the greatest!!!!!!
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Author: Bruno
Date: 2014-07-18 19:33
I don't break in reeds either. If they play well, fine. I play hell out of them.
If they have hope, I scrape them, if they're DOA I chuck them. Life's too short to waste time coddling reeds.
I've never seen any proof that "breaking them in" made any difference in any regard.
I simply won't anthropomorphize reeds to the point where I would play a reed for 10 or 30 seconds twice a week or some nonsense like that in hopes that it would sound better or last longer.
How much longer? Measurably so? And sound better? Better than what? How can you tell? Acclimatizing them? They have to be moistened before we use them, for Heaven's sake! Get real.
bruno>
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Author: kdk
Date: 2014-07-18 20:55
Bruno wrote:
> I don't break in reeds either. If they play well, fine. I play
> hell out of them.
> If they have hope, I scrape them, if they're DOA I chuck them.
...
> I simply won't anthropomorphize reeds to the point where I
> would play a reed for 10 or 30 seconds twice a week or some
> nonsense like that in hopes that it would sound better or last
> longer.
> How much longer? Measurably so? And sound better? Better than
> what? How can you tell? Acclimatizing them? They have to be
> moistened before we use them, for Heaven's sake! Get real.
>
I agree with you to an extent. But don't you find that the first time you play a brand new reed out of the box, and it plays well, that it starts to feel tubby and sound duller after a few minutes? And don't you see the water-logging happening progressively down the length of the vamp if you keep playing the reed without putting it away to dry? And do your really good reeds out of the box still play really well - or even moderately well - consistently the next day?
I don't think that breaking a reed in is going to make it last forever minus a day. I don't think that breaking a reed in necessarily makes it play better a week later than if it hadn't been broken in, except that IME it isn't likely still to be playable at all without a lot of readjustment (scraping in one way or another) after a week of heavy playing without an initial break in period. For me, life is too short to spend it scraping at reeds that have become unplayable.
I'm not sure what "proof" you're looking for that some rudimentary break in procedure is not helpful. You can't do it differently with the same reed to see the difference in result. You'll never know how the reed you "play hell out of" would have played if you had limited the first 2 or 3 sessions to stopping when the reed started to become clearly waterlogged. Many of us have been experimenting with this stuff for 40-50 years and have tried a lot of different approaches, some of which seem to work better than others over time.
Respectfully, there's not much point in belittling other players' witchcraft by exaggerating it to the point of absurdity ("play a reed for 10 or 30 seconds twice a week") to make a point. That's not what break in is for most (or maybe any) of us.
There's been enough written about breaking reeds in to provide a huge range of approach for readers here to consider. I would agree completely that much of it is unnecessary and over-protective of the reeds, and some of the suggested benefits of increased reed life seem exaggerated and beg questions about how important it is to preserve a reed for months when replacements are so relatively cheap (life is indeed too short). But you shouldn't mis-characterize what's been suggested in order to dismiss it out of hand.
Karl
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