Reed Tips For Ya

[Scottysax73]

Ok, ive been a professional sax player for many years. I give each reed about 5 minutes worth of time; if it doesnt work, chances are it never will. Let's be honest, ya gotta throw out alot of reeds. So, heres some tips and these are the only things ive found to work for me. Ill tell ya what they are and who taught them to me. Ill be honest, when i use to use a reed knife, and sand specific parts, the reeds lose its edgeiness. Each one of these 5 steps works a little and can make an ok reed a good reed:
1. Soak reed in water for 3 minutes
2. Soak reed in mouth for 1 minute
3. Sand the back of reed just 3-4 strokes
4. Chew the reed a little to break it in-Andy Snitzer and Mike Ghegan both showed me this.
5. Pop the reed on the mouthpiece. Ralph Bowen showed me this. Above all else, popping the reed works best. I do it a bunch of x's and once you start gettin tha pop, the reeds good to go.

[saxmanglen]

When you say "pop", do you mean suction test?

[MM]

Chew the reed?!!! Can you elaborate?

[Scottysax73]

Popping is the suction test. By popping it actually breaks in the reed. If a reed doesnt pop, i keep doing it. Man, the players out there dont waste their time w/ reeds. They do one of 2 things and thats it.
Chewing the reed is puttin it in ur mouth and breaking it in lightly w/ ur teeth. Also rubbing the reed from the middle to the top w/ ur finger breaks it in.

[brutlix]

Can you be more specific with the term 'pop'. What must be done, that the reed is considered popped on the mouthpiece?:)

[Chris S]

This chewing of reeds that you speak of intrigues me.... tell me more please. Any demonstration videos? ;)

Chris S

[Mike Ruhl]

:banghead:

Isn't it Snitzer who carries his reeds around loose in a plastic grocery bag? And whenever he needs a new one (apparently to snack on) he just reaches in and blindly grabs one?

[Nefertiti]

Don't forget talking to the reed. We all know that talking to a plant helps it to grow and reeds come from plants so I talk to my reeds. Reeds in general are a bit depressed about being cut down and put in an small box with no sunlight. I try to encourage the reed by telling it about it's greater purpose in life. If that doesn't work I swear at them.:D

[HonkBopSax]

I usually find myself skipping right to the swearing part... :)

[Scottysax73]

You guys are too funny. Snitzer chews his reed, im telling ya. He just breaks it in w/ his teeth. He throws his reeds on and plays, he doesnt really work on them.
If ya know Mike Ghegan, whos amazing, i had this conversation w/ him last nite. If ya dont know him hes a good person friend of mine and an amazing amazing player. He tours w/ Keiko Matsui and Justin Timberlake: www.michaelghegan.com. Hes just been endorsed ny Vandoren hes in their new Vandoren ad with Sanborn in Downbeat magazine. Checkem out and u can get his cd on his site;its real good. Anyway i went to college with Mike and i hang w/ him on a regular basis. Last nite he was at my gig and i was telling him that i just threw out like 10 reeds cause they werent playin well and he laughed. He just said he throws the reed on, chews it a bit and plays. As long as its Vandoren he doesnt care which Vandoren or which strength.

[JimD]

This chewing business; I've been known to bite down on the thick part of a hard playing reed and maybe scraping at it a bit with my teeth, it sorta works some of the time. The over-tough, thick part seems to be at least half of the problem. Biting on that part is much the same as drilling, scraping or pressing down on it as Tom Alexander suggests, you're just breaking it down faster. Of course this might not be what Scotty means by chewing. The other half of the problem lies elsewhere and cussing it out can help there.

[Mike Ruhl]

I've seen Snitzer's comments about chewing on reeds before. That he and others make it work is more a testimony to the flexibility and durability of a cane reed than anything else. Imagine how much better they'd be if they were willing to spend just a few minutes doing proper reed prep and maintenance.

Bottom line : this is not the kind of thing I think we should be passing along to impressionable young players. The fact that you're throwing away as many reeds as you are should tell you something. I never throw away a reed - I can make them all play to at least a level that I can use for practicing.

[Scottysax73]

Well, im no spring chicken. I asked him and he told me. Im 32, ive played toured w/: Jon BonJovi, Chubby Checker, TV shows and i gig 3-5xs a week. Ill be honest, anytime ive ever worked on a reed, to me, it loses its edge. Their whole concept is that most reeds will work. The biggest reason a reed doesnt work right is that some are harder to break in then others. They just hurry the breaking in process. Honestly, most of the great players that i know personally spend very little time on their reeds. Ya buy a product to have it work not to have to spend hours just to get some time on it. If these guys are some of the best in the business and these things work for them, then maybe its the answer.

[Mike Ruhl]

Oh never mind...

[BlueNote]

Hah!

I just tried it and it WORKED.

Thanks for the tip, Scotty.

[Saxland]

I've had really great run of reed the last 6 weeks, and I had no idea why until today. I'm using old boxes I put aside as a bad run and using those and they play great as well as new reeds. I started doing something that I have not done in a few years. I tend to drink to much coffee during the day, and remembered its easier to re-hydrate when practacing with boiled water. As well,I don't eat ANY about food when I have the sax out of the case, new rule for me. I think the coffee/suger/food particles were getting into the reeds, and making them really bad to begin with. Even though I would rinse my mouth with water. I have been playing in this one reed that should have died a week ago, tops. I think this is gonna save me some$$$ AND I have about 50 reeds to play that are probbably better than I first thought.

[Scottysax73]

ahhh i drink coffee and smoke cigerettes WHILE i play;no affect. Pushin ya finger from the middle of the reed to the top helps break it in too. Im telling you, i have tried a ton of stuff over the 22 yr span ive been playing. The ATG Finishing system and reed knives...they take away the edginess of the reed. Water, saliva, popping, lil sanding, biting and pressure from ur fingers..thats all. In fact, sometimes if a reed doesnt work after that, ill set it down for an hour and do it all again. If i take a day off from playing, ill soak it in water for 10 min before the next gig. Ill clip only if im on a gig and my reed breaks. I also keep 1 or 2 fake reeds around for emergency purposes.
I go w/ the flow. My V16's worked for four mos, now i got some bad batches. So, i pulled out some rico jazz and it works. These reed companys go on cycles

[BariSkaJazz]

Or, buy a synthetic reed and:

1. remove reed from case
2. attatch reed to mouthpiece
3. play!

I myself am loving the new fibracells, and I find they are working just dandy on my 8 STM Link, 110/0 SMS metal Berg Larson, C* Selmer S-80 and HR beuscher true tone mpcs. The link and beuscher tt are bari pieces, the berg a tenor piece, and the selmer an alto piece.

And no, my tone hasn't suffered, choked up, or gotten any brighter. :)

[Scottysax73]

Everytime i play a fibrecell, 1 week later it goes quack and then stops producung any type of sound.

[Snitz]

Ok, so let me weigh in here for just a sec. When Scott refers to me "chewing" the reed, what he's referring to, in detail, is this: If a reed is close to playing well, I'll use my bottom teeth against the reed, moving the mouthpiece back and forth, to shave a little cane off of dead areas. It is a quick and dirty impression of sanding, and it works for me. Ultimately, that is the only important thing for any of us, in any of this. "It works for me." I wouldn't promote this method to anyone who doesn't like the idea, for whatever reason, but if you do like the sound of the idea, why not try it? The worst that happens is, it doesn't work for you.

AS