Author: cjwright
Date: 2008-12-24 21:45
Voboe is correct in the fact that oversoaking reeds will leach the organic material in the cane (i.e. starch) that needs to be in there. When this organic stuff is completely leached, the cane fibers become harder, and more brittle, and have less flexibility.
Using Peroxide will also leach/destroy the organic material, and while it might clean out the reed of food/sludge in the reed temporarily, it will also clean out the organic material. Hence, after using peroxide, your reeds often feel small, tinny, and don't respond well.
The best advice I ever got was from Dan Stolper when I was a student at Interlochen. He merely said to dip it in water, shake off the excess water, and let them sit on the side of your shot glass for 2 or 3 minutes (depending on the humidity). 10 years later, I still follow his advice.
It's generally bad to oversoak your reeds or use warm/hot for reedmaking purposes as well. The heat causes the fibers to expand more than they would normally, and give a false sense of what the reed will actually be when it dries back out. Another reason is the more you expand a reed, the more it will contract, and the more warpage there will be. This warpage obviously changes the reed dramatically from when you're scraping to when you go to play.
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