 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Micke Isotalo ★2017
Date: 2017-10-16 12:05
Where I live in northern Sweden wintertime indoor humidity goes as low as around 15 %.
In my experience storing reeds at any level below around 50 % causes more or less severe problems with playability.
However, I've discovered that storing my reeds in an old fashioned basement department for food storage keeps them just fine. There the wintertime temperature is around 5 degrees Celsius (about 40 F) and the relative humidity level may be around 40 % - while the heated rooms in the same building has a temperature around 21 Celsius (70 F) and, as I said, a humidity of only 15 %.
In that basement no added humidity is never needed for the reeds to be perfectly playable (in case you wonder I don't play the reeds in that basement compartment but take out one of them at a time to my practice room and returning them afterwards to the basement).
Since this basement temperature is similar to that in a fridge, I just wonder if anyone else has tried storing reeds in a fridge - at low indoor humidity levels?
It could be more convenient than building an old fashioned food storage basement compartment :-)
Post Edited (2017-10-16 12:15)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-10-16 16:25
Micke Isotalo wrote:
> Since this basement temperature is similar to that in a fridge,
> I just wonder if anyone else has tried storing reeds in a fridge -
> at low indoor humidity levels?
Short answer - I don't.
> In my experience storing reeds at any level below around 50 %
> causes more or less severe problems with playability.
>
Such as?
> However, I've discovered that storing my reeds in an old
> fashioned basement department for food storage keeps them just
> fine...
> In that basement no added humidity is never needed for the
> reeds to be perfectly playable (in case you wonder I don't play
> the reeds in that basement compartment but take out one of them
> at a time to my practice room and returning them afterwards to
> the basement).
>
Sounds like a lot of trouble.
> It could be more convenient than building an old fashioned food
> storage basement compartment :-)
But a lot less convenient than using a Boveda humidity pack.
If you want to insist on humidifying your reeds, which some but not all players do, a humidifier pack seems cheaper, more convenient and more efficient than pretty much anything else you could invent.
Karl
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Author: TomS
Date: 2017-10-16 17:52
Try storing them in liquid helium. (!!)
Seriously, I try to store reeds at similar temperature to performance/practice temperature. Don't baby or do weird rituals to reeds anymore.
The Clarineat podcast has an interesting show about a reed storage device. Research claims that two things hasten the demise of reeds: multiple wet/dry cycles and bacteria. The reed storage device discussed uses a wet sponge with original (yellow) Listerine mouthwash to keep the humidity high and the alcohol vapor helps keep bacteria in check.
I've found that the 72% humidity packs used in the Rico reed case seems to help out a lot.
I wonder if a sponge with Listerine in most reed cases will work ...?
Tom
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Author: Micke Isotalo ★2017
Date: 2017-10-16 23:11
Karl: Your experience may very well be different, but as an example I can't remember any of my reeds having a wrinkled tip when humidity is + 50 %. Between 40-50 % some starts wrinkling, and below 40 even more reeds are doing that.
In summertime with natural indoor humidity of 50-70 % I get a lot more playable reeds and reeds with better response than from those kept in an environment of 15-30 % humidity in wintertime. Even some more or less unplayable reeds kept in such conditions during the winter becomes playable during the summer.
My routine with my basement storage doesn't cause me trouble since my practice room is nextdoor to that basement compartment.
I'm also talking about storing hundreds of reeds, not just a six pack or similar. Though I may not be playing on hundreds of reeds in one winter I would prefer to keep them all in the best possible playing condition, rather than just a few. A lot of these reeds (of a lot of different makes, models and strengths) are also kept for testing purposes when I'm trying out new equipment. Then it's convenient to have any reed playable at any time. Almost always another reed is a better match to a certain mouthpiece than the reeds I'm using on my own equipment.
Anyway, I'm not advocating a basement storage but just asking if someone have tried storing reeds in a fridge. Perhaps a crazy idea, but it came from the fact that the temperature in a fridge is similar as in my basement compartment.
At the same time I also realize that there are differences, as the walls in my basement which are of concrete and plaster and not of plastic and/or metal as in a fridge. It's also a lot bigger than a fridge.
However, before writing this I placed a humidity meter in my fridge and got a 44 % level of relative humidity at the upper shelf (temperature 8 degrees Celsius), while it was 39 % in the room (at 20 Celsius). However, on the lowest shelf the humidity was as much as 53 % and the temp was 5,3 Celsius. Thus actually a notable difference from the indoor level and perhaps I will try again later in the coming winter when indoor humidity is a lot lower.
If reed storing in a fridge actually works I can't see why it should be less convenient than storing them in any other place. Well, perhaps storing hundreds of reeds in your fridge may not make your spouse or the rest of your family too happy (with no room left for his or her beer, or the children's vegetable juices), but apart from that. And of course this would be a lot more convenient than building a basement, if you don't already have one :-)
Sorry if someone experienced this as an unnecessary topic, or if it even offended someone.
P.S: When I checked the meter again, it was up to 62 % humidity - still at the lowest shelf and with the same temperature as before. I know the response of this meter is somewhat slow.
Post Edited (2017-10-17 11:09)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-10-17 00:21
Micke Isotalo wrote:
> Karl: Your experience may very well be different, but as an
> example I can't remember any of my reeds having a wrinkled tip
> when humidity is + 50 %. Between 40-50 % some starts wrinkling,
> and below 40 even more reeds are doing that.
You're right about this, but I've never found wrinkled tips to be so much of a problem. They straighten out with a half-minute or so of wetting and, if that's not enough, they can be "ironed" flat with a thumb massaging them against a flat surface a few times.
>
> Sorry if someone experienced this as an unnecessary topic, or
> if it even offended someone.
>
I doubt if you offended anyone, certainly not me, and no topic here is unnecessary. You did omit in your original post the part about storing hundreds of reeds this way. I still don't find humidifying reeds necessary in general, but if you're going to do it, that many reeds wouldn't probably fit in most people's clarinet cases, so your idea of using a refrigerator or some other large storage area makes more sense now.
Karl
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2017-10-17 05:31
I've done studies and the results were never pleasant with refrig ideas. Maybe try a really excellent controllable cigar humidor. They work pretty well if you remember to follow the directions and not forget about the reeds for about a year or something. The cost for a really good one can cost a lot of money. Is it worth it? Not in my opinion. But if you smoke cigars like Bob Marcellus did, well go for it. If you have a wine cellar this is often a perfect place.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: DSMUSIC1
Date: 2017-10-18 21:17
Being from the Philadelphia area I would visit Hans Moennig's shop as a young boy anytime I needed repair work.
I remember most Saturdays would consist of a morning rehearsal with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. It was after rehearsal that I would see Moennig for any repair work, if needed.
After that I would catch the bus down to the Settlement Music School at 4th and Queen for Theory and Woodwind Quintet with Shirley Curtiss, followed by a lesson that would go on for hours with Ron Reuben of the Philadelphia Orchestra. (Thanks for allowing me to go down memory lane)
One day I walked into Moennig's shop with a cumbersome gadget to keep my reeds at "the perfect humidity level."
He laughed and told me to keep my reeds in a baggie with a small orange peel and that while I was at it to add a few orange peels to my case along with a dampit.
I have been doing it ever since.
-Dennis
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-10-18 23:53
Those were far less technology/gadget-laden days. I'm actually surprised he didn't tell you use orange peels *instead* of the Dampit.
Karl
Post Edited (2017-10-19 07:18)
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Author: Matt74
Date: 2017-10-19 03:28
My theory is that reeds benefit from a stable humidity, rather than a high humidity. While they certainly get damp when played, the higher humidity of the basement is closer to playing than the heated indoor air. The refrigerator is almost certainly more dry than the indoor air. The refrigerator really sucks the moisture out of vegetables. I think heating evaporates the moisture out of the air, and cooling condenses it out. Plastic bags in the refrigerator get water drops all over them, and things in the freezer get frost. Also, the air in the refrigerator is the same air as in the heated house, but cooled, which doesn’t add humidity (unless there is a bunch of damp stuff in the frige). The basement air is damp because it hasn’t been heated, and because the moisture comes from the earth - even through concrete.
I had the most luck very briefly wetting before playing, like a quick dunk of the vamp, and a wipe off. The reeds were in a reed case, but not sealed air tight. This worked in Minnesota. They stay relatively dry, and don’t mold.
I find soaking reeds for several minutes when they are new, or haven’t been played for a long time, helps. Soaking them everytime I play didn’t work for me.
- Matthew Simington
Post Edited (2017-10-19 03:32)
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