Author: shmuelyosef
Date: 2017-05-08 06:08
I went through a period where I would routinely take a new box of reeds, soak them all, flatten the backs with 600grit wet/dry sandpaper, polish the tops with 1200 grit wet/dry, put a dab of cork grease on the heart and work it into the whole vamp and tip (on the top) with my thumb, then let them dry. The next day I would start testing them, sort them out into 1) reeds that just work, 2) reeds that are close but might need some break in or some balancing/trimming, 3) ones that are hopeless.
Over the years I have gravitated to 1) take a reed out of the box, 2) force myself to play it for 10 minutes to get a sense of whether breaking in will help it, 3) decide whether it goes into my rotation 4) stop when I have four reeds in my "REEDGUARD". When I need more reeds in rotation, I repeat this with the same box...when I open a new box the leftover reeds get a final once over and at this time I attempt to 'fix' them...they have been tested 2-3 times over 4-6 weeks at this point. It is much more time efficient, and I think I get the same result without spending two hours of up-front work.
I do this for SATB saxophone plus Soprano and Bass clarinet.
As a final note...tea oil works well for the grease too and is also a powerful antiseptic. You can buy it at any pharmacy or apothecary.
Post Edited (2017-05-08 06:09)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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