Fun experiments with reeds

Tsax · 04-23-2003, 05:55 PM

And here's another technique I tried to prolong reedlife!

I have microwaved a few of my alto reeds. Just as a fun experiment, and not with really bad reeds or exceptionally good reeds, but with ok reeds. One of them burned in the microwave, and all of them had a different taste afterwards, but it did have an effect. One of the soso reeds became a very good reed (the one that I soaked previously, hoping this one wouldn't burn). And two didn't really change in sound quality, but they are stil playable after quite a long time (tho one has a dark brown spot in the heart and still tastes like burned potatoes). It was fun to do, I had a few laughs and won't try it again (or will I?

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Anyone else with a fun experiment? I read somewhere on the old forum about soaking the reeds in olive oil but haven't tried it myself.

Mike Ruhl · 04-23-2003, 06:50 PM

Here's a web page describing the effects of cryogenics on reeds:

http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Notes/cryoreeds.htm

Sassaphone · 04-23-2003, 07:04 PM

I microwaved some reeds in the past and for a while I thought that it improved them and gave them a longer life. Then we move house and for some reason I stopped. The are articles on the web regarding the aging effects on the woods used by luthiers. I don't see why it should not have the same effect on reeds.

Cameron Wigmore · 05-03-2003, 05:05 AM

Back in highschool I used to play a redd into the gound and then use scossors to cut the last 1/8 of an inch off. It was fun to see what false altissimo notes I could squeak out. Or I'd carve a hole right through the heart where my bottom lip sat. That really wrecked a reed. Those care free days of wasting school bought reeds are long ago and far away.