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Reeds Best way to fix Alto sax reeds?

Hey, ok, didn't want to start a new thread about alto reeds, but here's a question:

I have three Vandoren Blue 2.5 in a Reed Juvenator, they're all recent but not necessarily from the same box. One plays the way I'd expect it to, but the others have a very soft tone and are harder to play. What scares me is that I like the soft tone which produces notes that sound like subtones! What does anyone think this might be caused by? Should a try shaving them off or any of the aforementioned tricks? I've tried bending them a little but they close up easily. I'm not sure if I should keep trying them or ditch them and open a new one.
 
Softer tone comes from a softer reed. Shaving them will make them softer. You need to clip them.

A softer reed will play harder if you move it forward on the mouthpiece. Even to the point of having a small overhang.

If a reed is too hard move it back. This won't be possible with a very thin tip rail. If your piece has a thin tip rail buy reeds a little softer than you like and move them forward.

You can see how much to clip by the amount of overhang.
 
I will definitely check this out as I have a number of reeds around at any given moment. But saying "softer", with regard to strength of the reed I have several 2, 2.5, 3 and when I play a 2 they don't make that sound at all.
 
He started out with a 4 and must have ended up with about a 2 1/2. I bet if you asked him what strength reed he plays he'd say 4.
 

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