Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2021-02-11 19:54
Micke Isotalo wrote:
> Those who haven't experienced warped reeds (please reed my
> entire initial post if you don't know what I mean with
> warping), how are you checking your reeds? I check mine by
> slightly wetting the entire flat side and then pressing them
> gently against a piece of glass. Then looking through the glass
> at the flat side you can see if the reed makes contact along
> all its length, or maybe only at the tip and butt. By pressing
> it with a finger at the middle on the "upside" of the reed, you
> can force the reed flat, but at once when you release it, it
> will "pop up".
> The playing experience with a warped reed is stuffy, with
> increased stuffiness the more the reed is warped.
>
I'll admit to exaggerating slightly about how often my reeds warp. I probably toss 2 or 3 a year in a bad year. Still not a frequent or chronic problem. And (to your invitation to try humidifying reeds), as I said in my original post, I've tried storing my working reeds with those Boveda humidipaks inside plastic bags and disliked the result. More than once.
Unfortunately, warpage isn't the only cause of stuffiness. But in any case, my first check is to see if the reed seals on the mouthpiece. I do this fairly routinely. If I can't get a suction for at least 2 or 3 seconds, I assume the reed is warped. I might then lay the reed on a flat surface (like plate glass) to feel if it rocks from side to side.
In my experience, if the reed sits flat against the edge of the window and against the table at the butt end, it doesn't much matter what kind of contact exists with the table in between those two points. Many mouthpieces, including the legendary Cheds, were and are faced with a slightly concave scoop in the table partly to accommodate a slightly out-of-plane reed, to increase the likelihood the reed will make uniform contact at the end of the window with the ligature pressing down on it. If air is able to get under the reed at the bottom of the window or if the vamp's edges are upturned (or, less likely, downturned) because of stresses along the reed's length, the reed will behave in odd ways that are different from garden-variety stuffiness.
Karl
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