 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ecphory
Date: 2018-05-03 17:27
When I open a new box of reeds, I rate each one in several dimensions:
1. overall quality (1=very bad, 5=excellent)
2. strength (1=very soft, 5=very hard)
3. clarity (1=very noisy, 5=very clear)
4. articulation (1=sluggish, 5=very crisp/fast)
5. openness (1=damp, 5=big open sound)
I enter these numbers in a spreadsheet but other people make different kinds of marks on the reed. If you rate your reeds in different dimensions, what dimensions do you use and how would you describe them?
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2018-05-04 01:00
Sounds a bit over-complicated to me.
As I break in a box of new reeds the characteristics of each one can vary from day to day.
I simply note each day as the reed is played in a) the general characteristics and b) any adjustments needed to strength and balance.
Then after about 5 or 6 days it soon becomes pretty clear whether a reed is going to become a potential concert reed (marked "C"), a practice reed (marked "P"). or not worth bothering any more with.
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Author: ecphory
Date: 2018-05-04 02:52
I clarify my question: regardless of how you select your reeds, what are the main qualities of your favorite reed? Strength is probably the most obvious factor but then, what do you care about? The clarity/purity of the sound, the articulation? What I’m looking for are the main dimensions in which you can describe reeds. Wine tasters talk about 5 dimensions of wine, sweetness, acidity, body, tannin, and flavor note, what are the main dimensions of reeds?
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Author: kdk
Date: 2018-05-04 03:05
ecphory wrote:
> I clarify my question: regardless of how you select your reeds,
> what are the main qualities of your favorite reed? Strength is
> probably the most obvious factor but then, what do you care
> about? The clarity/purity of the sound, the articulation?
For me there is only one really important criterion - response. One responsive reed will sound pretty much like another on the same mouthpiece - the resonance comes with responsiveness if I'm doing things right inside my mouth. Likewise, it should be in tune if it's vibrating evenly without needing to be forced or have extra pressure applied.
Karl
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Author: nellsonic
Date: 2018-05-04 06:08
I want to be practicing, not futzing with reeds. If a reed has a fixable issue I quickly fix it. If not, it gets the wall test. I keep 8 good reeds in rotation and when one has a couple of bad days it's gone and quickly replaced. When I have a performance, the best sounding reeds that day get the gig.
A spreadsheet, to me, would be a way to avoid practicing.
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Author: Caihlen
Date: 2018-05-04 07:09
I hate reeds. I play about half the time on Legere Euro sig's. That said, the other half the time I play on Behn Aria's and I'm brutal about playability. If they get weird at all, they're gone. They play really well right out of the box and so little needs to be done to them I feel quite safe with this attitude.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2018-05-04 13:19
I wet about 3 or 4 reeds and usually find 2 that works well. Just a shade stiff, knowing that within a short time the reed will play to the strength I like. A short breaking in time is about 4 to 6 hours of playing. One reed is a back up for the week.
Then I just play on it until it dies. I may sand the bottom if it warps or clip the tip if it gets too soft and expect to get around 4 to 8 weeks out of the reed. It stays of the mouthpiece to form to the facing, when I'm not playing. I play about 4 to 7 hours a day lately, due to a tour. Now it's quiet. I also adjust the rails, the sides, and hardly ever touch the spine, the center or the heard of the reeds. This is where that special sound comes from. I do use a reed knife only for very precise shaving cuts. Almost always on the left side of the reeds, because Vandoren and Steuer reeds are heavier on the left side of their reeds.
I hate rotating reeds because I have adjusted to the reed thats on the mouthpiece and I know its limits, such as the sound quality in different registers and articulation. All of that. Playing different reeds will act differently of course, so I don't want any surprises at rehearsals and concerts.
So needless to say the reed on my mouthpiece must be very good with complete trust.
Another reason why I do not rotate reeds is the humidity changes. Let's say you play a reed one day and it was raining 70 percent humidity. A week later during the rotation that same reed doesn't play, because it's 11 percent humidity. If you played this reed everyday the reed would not experience shock to the weather, because you've been playing on it with plenty of moisture from breathing.
Sadly this won't work with bad cane. Within just 10 minutes minutes you should know if the reed will last 4 hours or 4 weeks. If the cane is bad quality just throw it out. Often I can sand the butt end of the reed and look at the fibers and the amount of fibers and tell if the cane will be great or just smash the tip and not waste me time, because you know the reeds won't ever come to life. It will be dead forever.
Hope this helps!
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: kdk
Date: 2018-05-04 16:52
Bob Bernardo wrote:
> I wet about 3 or 4 reeds and usually find 2 that works well.
> Just a shade stiff, knowing that within a short time the reed
> will play to the strength I like.
>
Bob and others, I'm always intrigued when I read that other players find their reeds soften as they "break in." I've always found exactly the opposite - reeds seem for me to become stiffer, less responsive, stuffier over their first few playing sessions. As I gradually lengthen the time I play on them over the course of three or four sessions, I remove cane from the sides and sometimes the tip as needed to keep the response alive. Once the reed is broken in I don't need to do much if anything further by way of adjustment, although from time to time a little tweak is needed over several weeks.
I've never found that reeds that are slightly heavy out of the box get lighter as I play them.
Karl
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2018-05-05 00:38
Similarly to Karl I find that the more common tendency of reeds during break-in is to get slightly more resistant, but there are also reeds that do soften slightly. That is why final strength adjustments are delayed as late as possible in the break-in process.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2023-10-31 13:24
My criteria: Fair: good enough to practice on.
Good: good enough for rehearsals
Excellent: good enough for concerts
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-11-01 15:50
We may have stumbled on a much more interesting issue. How a reed responds over time. I have played open mouthpieces many many years ago and small tip openings for about half of over 50 year of playing. I have only experienced reeds softening over their useful life as Karl describes. I have attributed that to the tendency (as I see it) for the reed to begin to bend through physical pressure (ideally very light), heat and humidity (how woodworkers make bent parts for furniture). As the tip opening gets smaller, the "resistance" of the reed weakens.
again, that's me and Karl
So what is the prevailing explanation from you folks regarding the strength of a reed increasing with use?
My thoughts are that exploring this dichotomy could help EVERYONE in reed care and adjustment.
Finally, my approach to "new reeds" (I assume you mean within your trusty brand and strength) is to place a box of ten in the order of playability from best (#1) to worst (#10) and that changes over the course of 4 days of "breaking them in." And yes, once I have 4-6 usable reeds in order, I do the rotating thing. I personally don't like being tied to a reed within any prolonged period for the sake of replacement in a concert or rehearsal emergency.
..................Paul Aviles
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2023-11-01 18:18
Paul,
Personally, I have found a break-in period to be useless to me, so I no longer use it (this isn't an argument for/against break-in - just a statement that I don't use it - in case this has any bearing on the experiences I share below.) Likewise, I don't "rotate" reeds per se - when one begins to fail to meet my standards, I grab a new one out of the box and place my old one on standby as an emergency use reed:
I frequently find new reeds - reeds which play exceptionally well out of the box during my initial playing session - to play 1/2 strength (or more) "stiffer" during my subsequent play sessions. (That's to say - after the first wet/dry cycle.)
However, the playing characteristics otherwise remain the same so I continue to play them without adjustment.
Over time (several weeks) these reeds gradually begin to play "softer" again.
As per reasoning? I would guess that like any natural fiber - getting wet changes the characteristics, and that drying again changes the shape of the fiber.
Why would this cause the reed to play stiffer without changing the reed's other characteristics? I don't know. Perhaps it is due to a specific stress introduced into the fibers during cutting, that is then "reset" after a wet/dry cycle?
Perhaps brand/manufacture process has something to do with it? I use Marca reeds.
Fuzzy
;^)>>>
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-11-02 13:29
So Fuzzy, would you say you play a particularly "soft" (really responsive) set-up?
I ask because my set-ups have always exhibited a tendency to want something to push against (if that makes sense) even when I have the lightest reed strengths in the mix.
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: moma4faith
Date: 2023-11-05 04:22
I don't spend a lot of time worrying about reeds. I don't have categories to check off. Out of the box, and a few minutes on my clarinet, I can tell if they are a player/keeper or a tosser. When I bought Vandorens, more were tossers than keepers. Now, with D'Addario Reserve Classics, 99% are keepers. I did purchase a box that had several of the ten with dark wood running through the length of the reed. Those ended up being tossers.
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