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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2024-05-24 05:01
I like the French cut offering.
I originally bought it in different strengths and when the higher end of my range version of the product proved too resistant, rather than return it for another strength, I stuck the business end in boiling water for a second, followed immediately by a "waiting in the wings" cold water rinse.
The result, so far two days in, is a reed that sounds and feels like cane: even better than the version of the product that matches my strength.
This also helped, but not as much, when trying this on Vandoren's VK1 synthetic.
Make sure to only dip for a second, and immediately immerse in cold water.
I have a feeling, that like material removal on a cane reed, "you can always do more if (hot water) inadequate," but making the reed harder, once too soft, may prove much more difficult.
If you find yourself with a half a strength or so more than what you're comfortable with, consider giving this a try over swapping for a more appropriate "out of the box" strength. I'm curious as to your findings.
I know that exposing synthetics to hot water is nothing new, but this didn't simply make the reed more playable, it made it better as well for me, and even better than a out of the box strength matched version.
Who'd of thought that like with cane, that buying a slightly stronger reed (and in the case of cane removing material) and reducing strength with hot water might be a better approach than matching strength in packaging specs.
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Author: lydian
Date: 2024-05-24 22:07
I've tried the hot water thing before with not so great results. For me, it eventually reverted to the original strength.
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