Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2017-03-27 19:14
My thinking is that reeds play optimally when well wetted from base to tip. Cane is great at handling water, it thrives in the wettest regions on earth. The fibers can absorb water, deplete it, and reabsorb freely. If water damages reeds at all, the damage is slight and slow.
Before playing, I dunk a reed in a cup of tap water and leave it there between 10 to 30 minutes (or more), depending on how distracted I get reading the clarinet bb or something. It plays fine, and no wavy tip.
After playing, I wash the reed using "my method", which involves further submersion of the reed in warm-to-hot water. I let the reed dry flat-side up overnight.
I routinely get 6 months or more out of a good reed, playing it 3 hours a day, no rotation; my reeds usually die from accidents rather than wearing out. (These claims never get much traction here, quite understandably.)
After band meetings, I put the reed played in my water mug to carry home for washing. Once I forgot it was there. That reed was immersed in water for over 24 hours straight. I let it dry overnight and then tried it, rewetting it and playing as usual. It was fine and normal, no sign of detriment by water-logging.
If too much water gets into some plant fibers they can swell and split, and from that they can't recover. That can happen to some plants from over-watering, and usually it's due to a process involving the equalization of solutes across semi-permeable membranes. I think with reeds and plain tap water there's few or no solutes trying to equalize, so the fibers routinely swell to absorb water but not to the point of splitting.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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