 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: BGBG
Date: 2016-10-19 02:03
Have some reeds I had too trim too much and now very hard and wont play at all. Would like to try and thin the tip but do not know exactly how to go about it. It would be enough just to get them to play some notes and learn a skill.
Have sandpaper in various grits 220 to 600. Have a reed trimmer. Have a caliper. Have some box cutter blades. No specialty tools otherwise. Can someone describe an exact technique about how and where to sand until it will play? I tried one with 220 grit sanding the whole flat side away from tip and got it to play a little but maybe it wasn't so bad to start with-not sure. But the others are too stiff to sound any lower register notes. I have good reeds but wanted to learn to fix a few that wont play. I am just doing trial and error now but really dont know what I am doing and would like some instructions if possible
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2016-10-19 05:37
I would go to YouTube and look for Tom Ridenour's ATG reed tutorials. Probably the fastest way to get where you're going!
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: Wes
Date: 2016-10-19 10:23
Try holding the reed butt in your fingers and sand down the tip at about a 45 degree angle on some 400 grit silicon carbide abrasive paper. Do not thin the flat side. The very tip can be about 5 thousands of an inch thick and in about 1/4 inch can be about 10 thousands of an inch thick, if you can measure that. I use a dial micrometer.
Thinning the tip will mostly affect the very high notes but for the lower register, try sanding the main body of the reed vamp. For the very bottom notes, try sanding the thickest part of the center of the reed vamp.
It is a skill that you can acquire by practicing it.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-10-19 12:19
It's complicated buddy. It can take several months, perhaps a year to really learn how to do this, because the cane is all different.
You first have to learn to blow on one side of the mouthpiece, then the other to get the one side of the reed to respond then the other side. You WILL hear and feel a difference. Which side is easier to play? Which side is harder. Well you take a bit of wood off of the harder side, but where?
Most of the reeds today measure very well from side to side. But the problem is the fibers. Some fibers are stronger, thus more resistant.
I always try to avoid the actual tip. This is often the area where articulation can be so vital.
First off a great book to study is by Fred Ormand. I think it is the very best reed book written. You can google him. If you have issues let me know. I have his information, but I don't want to freely give it out.
You can start softening the reeds when wet. The first place to remove wood would be behind the tip about 0.18" or maybe 3/8" roughly using 400 grit, wet/dry sandpaper. After 5 to 7 strokes see if the reed is any better. If not then test the rails that feel harder and take the same amount off, again behind the tip area.
The learning process takes time, and Fred's book is so helpful in so many ways. For example, if you take off too much wood in any area you will surely screw up the sound quality. You won't be able to hit the high notes and if you mess with the tip, mainly the rails you will often squeak.
So reed adjusting IS a science, but also a FEEL. You have to learn both. Sorry if I sound negative, I surely hope I'm not. I'm trying to gain your trust and take your time learning this ART. Everyone should get Fred's book.
When I was at Rico they always had horrible cane for us to try and make reeds from. I wish all of the cane came from the Var region of France as the Steuer reeds do. But that cannot happen. When I left Rico now D'Addario they produced about 25 million reeds a year. I worked there for 15 year so do the math. Please trust me here about learning to feel how the reed plays. If it's too hard, you have to find that spot by blowing into one side of the mouthpiece then the other. If the rails sound even well remove just a tiny bit behind the tip area.
I could write a book on this, but Fred already did and it's a great book.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: Slowoldman
Date: 2016-10-21 17:52
While 600 grit sandpaper generally works well, if you're still nervous about taking off too much cane in thin areas or creating "divots" in the reed, you can get 1000 grit at an automotive supply store. (They have finer grades too, but you'll be sanding forever with them.) I use it to smooth/"seal" the flat side of my reeds after I've taken out any warp with coarser grade abrasive or a reed knife.
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Author: BGBG
Date: 2016-10-22 03:55
At first it seemed I could just sand the whole flat side. But then I realized the vamp would be more steep angle from the butt end. The angle would be wrong. So I thought maybe the vamp would need reshaping and I did not know how to do that. I thought less steep angle would be needed since over trimming the tip end had steepened it. I could just throw the reeds away and I do have plenty of good ones. I just wanted to work on a reed that was no good as is and see if could succeed in making it play, not just simply use an already good one. Starting with simple tools like caliper, sandpaper, blades.
Thought it did not just need a thin tip but the angle more like it started out.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-10-22 08:14
Actually, there are 2 types of reed tips. The French and the German tips. With a few variations of the theme. For example when I made the Mitchell Lurie reeds the tips were very thin and the same with the Hemke line of sax reeds. About 0.005". I kind of prefer a bit thicker tip. around 0.006" or even 0.007". The German reeds are often double this thickness at 0.012".
The German mouthpiece are usually much less open. For example the Vandorn M13 is 1.01mm's. I feel this is too close. However the German mouthpieces are about 0.85mm's. So you can kind of see how the tips of the reeds and the mouthpiece openings compare.
The Great Robert Marcellus played on a 1.11 to a 1.10mm tip opening. He palyed around with mouthpieces alot.
Iggie Gennus and Harold Wright, both double lip players used around 1.03mm's. I feel this is about as close as you should get for a mouthpiece opening. Eddie Danials is around 1.03 as well. Some of the players whom I won't say are using tip openings around 1.20mm's with stiff reeds.
I didn't answer your question or comment, but these are kind of the basics.
I don't like sanding the bottoms of the reeds unless they are really warped and in this case I only sand 2/3rd of the reeds completely avoiding the 1/3rd area of the tip, usually using 600 or 400 grit sandpaper. I feel that finer sandpaper around 1000 grit puts a shine on the reeds and then the reeds don't vibrate correctly. Like my last post, you can learn to feel when a reed is warping. All reeds do warp, so you have to know when, by feel, and the sound of the reed, when it's time to sand.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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