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Re: Measuring Reeds

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2017-07-02 06:50

toffeeman3 wrote:

> What needs to be done to bring them back to life?

It sounds as if they're probably beyond bringing them back. The best way forward is to replace them with new reeds.

> In general I am confused about reed filing in general and how
> to tell if I have a good or bad reed
>

You tell a good reed from a bad one by playing on it. If it plays well, it's good. If almost nothing listenable comes out of it, it's bad. If it feels OK but not wonderful, it may be that a little bit of balancing may help it play better. You want the two sides of the reed to vibrate evenly - the same way on both the left and right sides. A very little careful, gentle scraping or sanding along the side that's stiffer - not, as Bob says, in the center (heart) area - can improve things. Of course, taking too much off or misjudging where to remove cane can ruin the reed and make a so-so one unplayable.

There are lots of articles in books and on line and videos on YouTube describing different approaches to adjusting reeds that don't play optimally, although the old advice of players of my teachers' generation was to figure out how to play on the reed you got rather than try to make the reed perfect and risk ruining it entirely.

Sometimes it's best to just throw bad reeds out and conserve your time for actual practice instead of spending it on trying to salvage them.

Karl

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Measuring Reeds new

kdk

2017-07-01 19:08