 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Kelly
Date: 2002-08-13 00:37
Last spring at the Fullerton Jazz Festival I attended a woodwind masterclass with Ernie Delfonte in which he told a story of a friend who accidentally left a box of reeds in his glove box, and when he found them a month later every reed in the box seemed to be cured and worked great. I had half a box at that time and tried it. I just worked up four last night and each played surprisingly well, hardly needing any work at all. They all seemed to be a bit softer than usual as well. Has anyone heard of curing reeds like that, and do you think it would actually work? When a reed is cured should it feel softer? Does the heat speed up the curing; and then in very high temperatures (130+) would it be possible to leave the reeds in too long and then damage them? How long would be too long if that were the case?
Curiously, Kelly
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ed
Date: 2002-08-13 12:29
I can see where this is going...
"What kind of car is best to cure my reeds?"
"Where is the best place to park?"
"I have heard that player xxxx used a '82 Toyota. Where can I get one of these?"
"Only vehicles withe the VIN nunbers in the xxxxxx to xxxxxxx range are good" etc...
Of course, then there will be the the inevitable sales of these vehicles for twice the book value on ebay.
Ed
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bob
Date: 2002-08-13 13:16
I agree that this is an interesting concept since heat cures many things. I suppose it's possible that cane contains a resin or some chemical compound that heat curing could convert to an insoluble compound.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2002-08-13 13:47
Don't forget that book that came out a few years ago about all the things you can cook by wrapping them in aluminum foil and putting them on top of your car engine, then driving for a few hours....Maybe this could be combined with glovebox reed-curing? Eat'n'Play?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2002-08-13 14:22
Just don't let the different kinds of reed touch while cooking.
Is this better with higher octane fuels?
What kind of cylinder block transfers heat optimally?
If you play a German system horn, must it be a teutonic car?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Pegel
Date: 2002-08-13 16:21
Thanks Kelly! Now I'm gonna stick my bad Vandies in there and try it! I'll keep you posted on the results.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: diz
Date: 2002-08-14 02:30
I left my sunglasses in the glove box once - their plastic frame warped.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Kelly
Date: 2002-08-14 03:31
I've frequented the board and the klarinet list for a few years now, mostly just reading, and for fear of this. I posted this as a seriously, with the hope of getting some people's serious ideas and thoughts on this. But if I had known that the majority of the replies would just be making fun of my questions I would not have posted. I do realize it's a strange idea, and that few, if any, might know the answers. Thanks to Mark, Bob, and David Pegal for taking me seriously.
Sincerely, Kelly
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: diz
Date: 2002-08-14 04:17
Kelly - sorry, didn't mean to cause you offence. But if there is an explanation for that and you find it out ... then we'd all be very interested (high heat and reeds that is).
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: tim k
Date: 2002-08-14 20:57
Kelly, I don't think Ed was making fun of you or your question. It seemed to me he was parodying to vintage instrument, and mouthpiece, and ligature--I've even seen posts about vintage reeds--craze. This is even more of an issue with saxophones. I'm a vintage sax owner and I enjoyed his comments. I winced, but I enjoyed them.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2002-08-14 21:30
NO, I was definitely making fun.
Nothing says your meds are off like this sort of thing.
Now, where is the golden Chamois I had made from Buddy Wright's
car seat... it's the ONLY thing keeping my horn right in the end.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Morrigan
Date: 2002-08-15 05:02
I gotta agree with this.
My teacher has taught me you leave your reeds in the sun on a sheet of glass - you let them warp like crazy for about a week. Then, soak them in water, VERY thoroughly. This way, they warp the OPPOSITE way from which they have just warped in the sun. Do this for about a month, then you do what you usually do with them. I have been doing this for about 2 years now, I love it, my reeds work so well, and I can sometimes get more than 1 playable reed out of a Vandoren V12 box. Amazing.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: GBK
Date: 2002-08-15 05:16
All right ...True confession time:
In one of my weaker moments I actually tried to "temper" my reeds by giving them a quick shot in the microwave oven.
(waits for laughter to subside)
Kids...don't try this at home...GBK
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bob
Date: 2002-08-15 12:38
GBK...I'm not laughing because I was thinking about this last night and decided it was not a good idea. There must be starch or sugar in reeds along with a certain degree of moisture and I think microwave is a bit too severe a way to cure. I could believe that glove box, regular oven, or sun curing might convert the starch/sugar thus making the reed less prone to size change ergo warping and ultimately "sogging". The photo that appeared in an earlier post would seem to indicate a very complex microstructure that microwave might damage. The usual reed conditioning practice of soaking in water leads me to believe that it simply dissolves the starch/sugar leaving just the cell structure i.e. the skeleton.
Now...impregnate the skeleton with a polymer and cure that and you might have something.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2002-08-15 18:50
Kelly, anytime you post a question to which no one knows the answer, you can expect all of the humor-mongers to leap center stage, me included. I strongly suspect that very few people have ever done as Delfonte's friend did and accidentally leave a box of reeds in a car's glove box for weeks, only to discover they had been mysteriously transformed into wonderfully performing items.
Really, this is about as unscientific as one could get. Where was the car? In the environment of the Mojave Desert in midsummer (where I am right now, with air temp of 108F/42C), or Nome, Alaska, in midwinter (-40, whichever)? Or perhaps vice-versa? What was the relative humidity during that time? What kinds of diurnal temperature variations were experienced? How old and what brand were the reeds? If one wishes to duplicate conditions, one must duplicater *all* conditions to get equivalent results. And truly, the make and model of car could make a significant difference because of different ventilation to the glove box. This seems an impossible problem to solve, given only the basic information.
So my answer to most of your questions is, "Beats me." However, the answer is yes to "Will heat speed up curing?" and "I've never noticed" to your question "Is a cured reed softer?" While I suspect that applying elevated temperature to a reed for an excessive period of time might damage it, I have no experience to indicate this is so, never having tried to "cook" a reed.. I also suspect that GBK's microwave experiment might have failed due to application of excessive power, which may have forced too much water out of the reed's cells too quickly, causing many cells to rupture. Perhaps experimenting with very reduced microwave power might be fruitful.
But just for the heck of it, I'm going to stick some Black Masters and White Masters in the glove box of my son's BMW, some old Roy J. Maiers in my PT Cruiser, some other new Vandys in my wife's Buick, and a Legere in my Ford Explorer. We'll see what happens. I'll take this from Lunar first quarter to the next Lunar first quarter for astronomical timing. The rest of my reeds I will leave, as usual, in my desk drawer as controls.
And has anyone else seriously considered that a quarter moon is a half moon?
Regards,
John
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
