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Changed the reed

miss-saxophone

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Maldon, Essex UK
Hiya. I changed my old Rico Royal 1.5 reed with a new one, the same strength and make, but now when I play I'm playing more air than sound. Could anyone help me out on this? Should I get a stronger 2.0 reed? I'm also struggling to blow the high notes, like a high G in G major scale - which I was asked to learn yesterday. Thanks. :D
 
Try giving it a good soak (5mins). While you're at it, if you have some others, give them a soak too and try playing all of them. They'll probably all be different (this is normal). Pick out the ones you like best. If you've got more air than sound then the reed might be a bit too hard - although it seems slightly unlikely that any 1.5 is going to be too hard. Don't keep playing on a reed until it's completely knackered - the switch to a new one will be a bit a bit of a jolt to your embouchure.
 
I did what you said Nick, and played, it sounded good man. Cheers for the advice. I'm also able to sound my higher notes now too. :D
 
Watched the tom ridenor vid and got at it with a nail board today. Worked well so have ordered the real deal. I was so mad, I was caught short and had to buy from the shop at 30 euros for 5 tenor reeds. The first two out of the box were so lumpy I could not really play em. So, have all these old crocks and I reckon I will get most of them back in line. Been following the johnboy et al threads and looked up some other stuff and I reckon this thing will work. Meantime, following roughy what ridenour does, without the kit, works ok. Lucky to have rellys in the US to forward the stuff on.
 
I did what you said Nick, and played, it sounded good man. Cheers for the advice. I'm also able to sound my higher notes now too. :D

It would be good, as Nick says, to soak a few and rotate them - say 4 reeds at one go, so you only play a reed every four days, which gives them time to recover. Several of us have invested in reed cases (I use the Vandoren Hygrocase for all my saxes and they keep the reeds in good condition. I soak a reed ech time I play, for about a couple of minutes or so, and usually in a mixture of distilled water and rum, in my case. They can last a long time doing this.
 

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