Martin
Member
- Messages
- 212
- Location
- Grenada, West Indies
Does anyone trim their reeds?
I’ve been getting increasingly frustrated when I have to throw away a perfectly good reed simply because it has softened with playing. When the reed becomes too soft, my tone deteriorates and I start to get a hint of a squeak preceding some high notes, when I’m belting them out.
Last night I threw a perfectly good plasticover 2.5 in the bin after only one week, or less, of playing. Two minutes later, I fished it out and trimmed about 1mm off the end using a very sharp razor blade. To avoid losing the profile at the tip, I placed another reed against it, as a guide to follow while trimming. Well...what a fantastic result...it was like having a new reed...nice clear tone...no hint of a squeak...
Perhaps I’ll look into buying a reed trimmer. Does anybody else use one?
Martin
I’ve been getting increasingly frustrated when I have to throw away a perfectly good reed simply because it has softened with playing. When the reed becomes too soft, my tone deteriorates and I start to get a hint of a squeak preceding some high notes, when I’m belting them out.
Last night I threw a perfectly good plasticover 2.5 in the bin after only one week, or less, of playing. Two minutes later, I fished it out and trimmed about 1mm off the end using a very sharp razor blade. To avoid losing the profile at the tip, I placed another reed against it, as a guide to follow while trimming. Well...what a fantastic result...it was like having a new reed...nice clear tone...no hint of a squeak...
Perhaps I’ll look into buying a reed trimmer. Does anybody else use one?
Martin