Author: vboboe
Date: 2008-08-21 00:12
just to blow smog off the record, i do indeed have cig papers, and i'm not anxious about it either, merely exercising my mental curiosity
but i rarely use them ... a few pieces have been used as occasional test papers and blotting *the wet pad* of a spluttering F side hole (not the hole per se, but of course the hole gets dried in the process) ... which only usually happens in home practice in cool weather when we're comfortable enough indoors without the heat, but house's air temp isn't up to 70
(hm, reminder to myself, start instrument warmup at low E not F# when air is cooler)
touch wood, always a first time, i've not had any water problems at indoor locations for rehearsals or performances, as rooms are always warmer than we like our house, so i find swobbing after the end of rehearsal works perfectly fine for me in those locations
i've also tried the emergency remedy of wet-wrapping and twirling cig paper around a loose fitting cork staple, but find it's unsatisfactory as it shreds too easily and leaves bits in the reed well when pulling it out later ... because, in the meantime during the heat of playing, the darn thin wetted paper dries out, and it separates readily from the cork when dry
now that's very fiddly to remove with a bamboo skewer (have to first get that out of fixit kit tucked in gig bag !) rather than use the metal screwdriver or spring hook to poke it out (more handily convenient in the oboe case !) which will scratch the reed well, and omigawd no, daren't even think of swobbing the oboe until every fibre of paper is out of the reed well, holding top joint upside down all the time ... at the right angle to keep the dripline in the bottom side of the pipe ...
hey, slowpoke oboe, the band's all gone out for refreshments already ... even the snail pace tenor sax has already finished putting blotting papers under all the closed pads of his instrument !
So i much prefer a thin strip of masking tape to make staples fit snugly, because it has a slippery surface already, and slides the reed out easily enough afterwards, and it's sticky enough to stay on all year until i buy new staples to replace them
gack, one year when only had a few tubes available for new reeds, tried peeling old masking tape, cleaning off the gum residue and plumping the cork again in hot water, what a fuss -- just buy new tubes
... and, what with a space-saving solution of 2" piece of drinking straw wrapped with a fair length of masking tape in my fixit kit (you know how big the rolls are, much too cumbersome for a fixit kit) i'd be more concerned if Customs mistakenly presumed i snorted instead of rolled joints ...
so, bottom line, my cig papers are more likely to turn old and a smoggy color before they get used up ... now where did i put that purple sage ... ?
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