Author: Dutchy
Date: 2009-01-01 18:04
Sometimes you can salvage a reed by wiring it. You need thin wire, not sold in hardware stores. Usually you can find it at an arts-n-crafts place that sells jewelry and beading supplies; I got mine at Hobby Lobby, but a place like Michaels would also have it. The thickest wire that will work IMO is 28 gauge, and thinner would be better. Margaret Cassell at Goodtoneguild wires all her reeds, and I believe she uses 30 gauge.
Anyway, you soak the reed well, and then snip off a couple inches of wire, then take a couple of turns around the reed right at the base of the scrape--each reed will have a "sweet spot" where it wants the wire to go, so you'll have to experiment a bit. Then you tighten the wire (gently, very gently), and like I said, you'll have to experiment with placement and degree of tightness until you can get it so the wire doesn't simply close off the reed totally.
Don't tighten the wire too much or you'll crack the reed. We're talking teeny increments here, not a "closing off a Hefty sack full of garbage with a twist-tie" type of force. You're aiming at gently encouraging the sides of the reed to hold open by bolstering them with wire, not at forcibly/randomly twisting a chunk of wire around the reed.
After you get the initial couple of turns and the initial twist in place, so the wire is physically held on the reed, then you can slide it up and down the reed to find the "sweet spot", tightening it and loosening it (I use a pair of miniature jeweler's pliers to do this, but any fine needlenosed pliers will do). But basically you want it at the base of the scrape, not higher up on the actual scrape.
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