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Re: good reeds

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-08-03 22:46

The cane first of all needs to be mature and well-aged. Even with even ridges, green or barely mature cane won't play as responsively. But the evenness seems to me to be part of a reed's quality.

I confess, the evenness of the grain is something I think I can see as well or, maybe, better with my naked eye, unmagnified. The camera may be overkill for this selection process.

FWIW, Anthony Gigliotti used to tell his students that the best reeds were the ones with mottled cane - that the mottling was an indication of maturity and, he said, relatively higher sugar content (I suppose that made the tone sweeter). Players used to put their reeds on a light board to see the grain and the shadow of the profile and would discard anything off-center out-of-hand. I find that modern cutting techniques have pretty much eliminated those reeds from my student days that had noticeably skewed dark areas (from the way the profile was cut).

Karl

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