Author: Dutchy
Date: 2005-04-02 13:38
That's a really fascinating article, but...
1. He's addresssing the issue of how long you should soak cane in order to make reeds from it, not how long you should soak already-completed reeds before trying to play on them. I have no doubt that leaching excess salts from a wood product will tend to make it more pliable, but does removing excess salts from an already-completed non-leached reed *also* make it play better? He doesn't address this. He does not do the next logical experiment, which would be to soak finished reeds made from non-leached cane for long periods of time and see whether it made them play better.
2.
<<< all twelve were playable, and six were considered excellent, while four others were very good. >>>
But, isn't this about the statistical average you'd expect from any given group of cane (assuming an experienced reed-maker)? That out of 12 pieces of cane, you'd probably get 6 excellent, 4 very good, and (presumably) 2 playable-but-not-very-nice duds?
So leaching the sodium out of the cane before you make the reed doesn't demonstrably prove that you'll get a better reed.
3. I also note that he's a bassoonist by profession. Thus I'm assuming he's working with bassoon reeds here. My understanding is that bassoonists are told to soak their reeds before playing for 5 to 7 minutes, whereas oboists are told to soak their reeds before playing for 1 to 2 minutes. Therefore, it sounds to me like bassoon reeds need more soaking to begin with, being bigger and thicker, and that therefore bassoon reeds might benefit from longer soaking, but that oboe reeds might not.
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