Reeds A clean dry reed

[Bobby G]

I stumbled on a short 'how to play sax' clip on Youtube. Apart from the conventional cleaning of tube, crook & mpc after playing, it was also recommended that you should put a clean, dry reed on your mouthpiece, and that you should keep a reed in your case for this purpose.

Does anyone do this? If so, what are the advantages over drying the mpc and chucking it in the case?

Cheers, Bob

 

[robaldo]

I cleaned my sax once. It hasn't worked properly since!

I subscribe to the "don't take off the reed unless you're near some kitchen roll or you'll seriously regret it" school.

You can always spot the crap players cos they have the best horns, and spend an hour cleaning them after every play.

😛

 

[Bobby G]

I can understand cleaning your sax and bits; mine stay in the case when they aren't being used as rattling around in the boot of the car won't do them much good, but putting on a 'clean, dry reed' that you keep specifically for the purpose does seem a little finicky or pernickety. I wonder if a bog-standard cheapo-Rico would do, or should I use something more expensive?

Cheers, Bob

 

[mfox]

in my experience it don't matter..but a few things to consider are:
1.if you been playing in club.. what you been drinking.. in my cast prob blackcurrent and sodar..icky sticky. just ask for a glass of water dip it in and wipe on your sleeve...works for me
2 . leaving on the MP.. the reed will warp 9 times out of 10 but a few mins blowing will sort it out 9 time out of 10..

as far as playing on a clean dry reed? well i prefer them moist i like to suck it for a few before playing .

reed cases:i use one for my bari reeds they warp a little to much

 

[Bobby G]

Playing on a dry reed is not what he recommends - keeping a separate dry reed that you put on only when storing the horn is what he says you should do. Seems odd to me.

Leaving the wet reed on after playing is something I do occasionally, more often if I know I'm going to play again later in the day. I don't have much trouble with warpage, a few minutes getting the reed moist again usually sorts it.

Cheers, Bob

 

[Linky Lee]

I always store all my mouthpieces without a reed on them.
I take the stance that the reed came in a reed case, that's where it's going to live.
Occasionally I leave a reed on a mouthpiece but only if it is dry as I find playing on a reed that has been stuck to your mouthpiece for a while isn't great. You need to take it off and re-align and all sorts before you get it set up to a comfortable playable standard again.

I tend to clean the innards of my saxophone after every 2-3 sessions. and I clean the crook and mouthpiece after every session. I only really do that because of time restraints. For example if I have a lesson in school or a practice I don't have much time to clean so I just do the mouthpiece and crook. When I play at home I only clean if I know it will be my last practice session of that day.

I think using a dry reed on the mouthpiece is pointless, I can't see what it will achieve.

 

[oliver_bentley]

I've got a cheapo one top one bottom black plastic clip-case-thing for my reeds, and alwasy take off the reed to store. suprisingly the black cheap-o case keeps them perfectly flat and I've never had need for anything else. Will occasionally leave the reed on the mpc, but as said it'll often warp etc, so try to take it off, give it wipe n put away.

As for putting a clean new read on the mpc to store it, the only thing I can think of is that it'd keep the ligature in shape if you've got a leather one for example, but after a few weeks, even the newest ligs fit snuggly round the mpc, so I'm at a loss.

 

[robaldo]

My reeds cost ?2 and last about six weeks without warping or anything, and they live, constantly damp and covered in bits of half-digested crisps on my constantly damp saxophone.

Am I doing something wrong?

8|

 

[Bobby G]

Yes. Finish your crisps before playing. Although I suppose a mouthful of Walkers Cheese and Onion might add a bit of extra crunch to your tone.

Cheers, Bob

 

[robaldo]

I tell ya what... I'm going to clean my alto mouthpiece right now, before I even set off for the gig.

Wish me luck....

 

[Bobby G]

Visor...Blowtorch... Mr Muscle Grimeoff... Industrial strength Brillo pad.... Vim

Actually, I've decided to leave my reed on for a few weeks as an experiment. I wonder if the Quentin Crisp principle is as true for reeds as it is for housework, or not doing it i.e. after 4 years it doesn't get any worse...

Cheers, Bob

 

[Bobby G]

Robaldo wrote:
I tell ya what... I'm going to clean my alto mouthpiece right now, before I even set off for the gig.

Wish me luck....

Good luck!

Well, did you do it? What happened? Enquiring minds need to know.

Cheers, Bob

 

[robaldo]

I forgot, and then as I got it out of the case at the gig, the reed came off.
YUCK!

:S

 

[impulse]

Isn`t the reason for keeping an old dry reed on the MPC after use simply a suggestion for protecting the face of the piece from dings and scratches? Russ

 

[Bobby G]

Aha, the mystery is solved by our logical antipodean correspondent! Welcome back Russ.

Cheers, Bob