|
|
Tips and tricks
| How to break in a reed |
|
| It can take 3-4 days to break in a new reed. During that time a reed should not be played for more than 2-3 minutes. In winter it can take even longer to break in a reed. If a wet reed is put on a plate of glass after these first days, one will often realise that the reed has become a bit swollen in the face area or even warped over the whole bottom of the reed. That, however, can be remedied quite quickly by sanding down the bottom of the reed. |
|
|
| Working on the bottom of the reed |
|
| Best results can be obtained with a grindstone or abrasive paper put on a plate of glas. When the bottom of the reed is now carefully smoothed out, the area close to the tip (about 1cm of the foremost area) should be spared. If the tip is sanded it might become too thin which again would change the sound and the reponse of the reed a lot. Very good results on the bottom can be achieved by working with a file. Especially good are single-cutting sharpening files marked cut number 3. These files can be bought at your local toolshop. |
|
|
| Working on the face of the reed |
|
| Even with very small production tolerance it can happen that one side of the reed responds better than the other. That happens if the fibres inside the cane are not equally distributed. The only remedy lies in sanding the side of the reed that is thicker meaning where the reed does not respond well. |
|
|
| How to store reeds |
|
|
|
Most clarinet players have reedcases with plate glass on the bottom. These glass bottoms have the disadvantage that a wet reed can only dry from top. That can be changed if one lets the reed dry for some minutes with the bottom up. If time does not allow that the reed can also remain on the mouthpiece and one can allow it to dry later on.
During the winter (meaning the heating period) the additional problem of very dry air arises. During that time reeds should best be stored in unheated rooms. If one has problems with dry air, one can also use special cases or boxes (humidors) as can be bought for cigars and which provide constand humidity. |
|
|
|
| Sandpaper |
|
All leading producers of sandpaper offer special products for the timber industry. These sandpapers have the advantage that their abrasive particles and the way these are fixed on the paper are optimized for working on wood.
Sandpapers that can be used wet are optimized for work on car paint and not so good for reeds. The same goes for the quality of some of the sandpapers taht can be bought at D.I.Y.s. If the surface of the reed becomes black or blue after the use of sandpaper, it means that abrasive particles have come off the paper. These particles stick to the cane and can damage the face of the mouthpiece. We recomend Tri-M-ite Fre-Cut 618 made by the 3M company. This paper can be optained in all normal qualities. |
|
|
| How to clean mouthpieces |
|
Many players clean their mouthpiece by pulling the whole length of their pull-through through the mouthpiece. That means that the foremost area of the facing gets more and more rounded with the result that the edges get more and more narrower and that the reed no longer has proper contact to the tip of the facing. We recommend that only the tip of a handkerchief or of the pull-through is used, never the whole pull-through.
Another way of cleaning the mouthpiece is the use of tablets as are sold to clean dentures or braces . If the mouthpiece is made of rubber this can cause a change in colour (dull, greyish or greenish). That, however, can be solved by polishing the mouthpiece. |
|
|
|
