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Re: Reed Trim Sand

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-06-29 03:26

Two things happen when you clip a reed. The first is that you take away the thinnest portion of the tip leaving thicker material as the very tip (which is harder to make vibrate). The other thing that is happening is that you are making the vamp (the duck bill shaped part) shorter, so that there is less vibrating area left (making the reed even harder).

Traditionally one would only clip once (or twice at most) with the amount you clip being the thinnest possible shaving. Any more would cause the architecture of the reed (length of vamp vs total length of reed) to be too short (more like a chisel).

Without an exhaustive guide on reed making/shaping, I would say it will be easiest (but not necessarily successful) to work on sanding the flat side with the 400 grit (SLOWLY). Take a few swipes and try it - then repeat until it begins to play. You might even be able to judge how things are going by slightly flexing the tip carefully against your thumbnail.

I would guess though that if you took off enough reed to eliminate a good sized chip, the reed may be beyond bringing it back to life (the way you knew it). I would be content using this as a way to learn some valuable reed making/adjusting skills using a good manual (you need good diagrams and accurate descriptions of this process).

.............Paul Aviles

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