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A shock

5K views 54 replies 14 participants last post by  Jazz Is All 
#1 Ā·
I went to my nino case yesterday after a few weeks and took out the piece ( a metal Yana) I had put a new Vando reed on it just to keep the lig and cap on. When I pull the FL smart cap off I was amazed to see a small string like thing hanging off the reed and the reed chewed up. I can only assume this was some kind of maggot or bug. I keep my pieces very clean and as I said it was a new reed. I have heard about bugs before eating pads but not reeds. I'm at a loss.

I immediately washed the piece and left it outside the case. I've never experienced anything like this before. The nino is the only piece I keep a wooden reed on to keep the lig and cap secure.. never again. Any insight? It put me about I must confess. I wonder if it could already have been in the reed..weird.
 
#5 Ā·
Thanks.. Like the humour too... I think reading that report it was already present in the reed and came to life. It was a thin stringy yellowy cream colour ( like a maggot). Nothing in the reed case that's in a pocket in the case cover. Hope it's a one off. " You can drive out nature with a pitchfork but it always comes roaring back again" Tom Waits.

I've use man made reeds on everything for a while now and if I could get a man made nino reed guess what I would use those too.
 
#7 Ā·
Fascinating (if creepy) topic. I suppose the tropical weather (UK, generally) hasn't helped.

Regarding sopranino reeds- I've just dug my old 'nino out of the cupboard, and was about to buy a box. I read a few comments on here (I believe it was the estimable Pete Thomas I first read) with suggestions including clarinet reeds.

I lopped a few millimeters from the vamp of one test reed, and it works a treat.
 
#8 Ā·
I've got some Legere Eb reeds . It's the only Legere that works for me. I use Fibracell on my other reeds. I think I tried the alternate reeds on my sopranino sax before and went back to regular reeds. It goes back to my old complaint that the sopranino isn't taken seriously by reed makers other than Vandoren and Alexander. Vandos are ok though preferably without a guest on board.
 
#9 Ā·
I've heard that the high pitch of the sopranino bugs a lot of people. I guess this is a sign that you need to work on your intonation.
 
#14 Ā·
and what would that ( hydrogen peroxide) do to insects aside for drowning then in an expensive liquid? If you want to drown them they die in water too and that is cheaper than peroxide.

Actually one of the best thing to kill most insects (which breathe through pores , spiracles, on their exoskeleton) are oils. They form a film on their exoskeleton blocking the spiracles and the insect can't breathe.

Very ecologic way to control insects.

https://extension.colostate.edu/docs/pubs/insect/05569.pdf
 
#15 Ā·
That might not be good for the reeds - I really don't know - but it would probably save the reed case.

H2O2 attacks many materials, including many organic materials, because of its chemical instability. This is why it is not actually good to use it on cuts: in most cases, it is at least as harmful to your cells as to the potentially infectious organisms.
Some gardeners spray hydrogen peroxide in the soil to protect from surface and near-surface insects. It kills the bugs, but it will react or otherwise break down before the plants absorb it.
H2O2 is especially useful because it breaks down into water and O2 when exposed to light, if it doesn't react with anything first.

Most peroxides bleach cellulose (cellulose is one of the most common materials in plants ie reeds) rather than destroying it, and even that usually requires a relatively long exposure.
I use H2O2 to rescue my reeds from small mold colonies, which is fortunately the only thing I've ever found growing on them. I gently scrape off surface growth by dragging a razor blade across the surface with the edge angled slightly back, plop them in a shallow bowl with regular OTC 3-5% peroxide solution until they stop foaming, rinse and gently rub with my finger to get the crap off, then soak briefly in clean water to get whatever other crap I can out. For bugs you might want to increase the peroxide soak time, but it should still work.
For the reed cases you can do peroxide, isopropyl alcohol, Lysol, Windex, vodka... basically any household disinfectant except bleach, which may mess with the plastic. Same goes for the mouthpiece itself.
Good luck.
 
#16 Ā·
lots of people use peroxide to sanitize their reeds. (search the archives there must be at least 1000 threads...)

But this is not the object of this discussion centered on insects attacking the reeds and for that purpose is hydrogen peroxide (or other disinfectants ) not very useful.

Incidentally, any good mouthwash (even cheap one) containing chlorhexidine works very well for disinfection (but bugs are a different matter!).
 
#18 Ā·
lots of people use peroxide to sanitize their reeds. (search the archives there must be at least 1000 threads...)
But this is not the object of this discussion centered on insects attacking the reeds and for that purpose is hydrogen peroxide (or other disinfectants ) not very useful.
Incidentally, any good mouthwash (even cheap one) containing chlorhexidine works very well for disinfection (but bugs are a different matter!).
I mentioned in my post, gardeners use H2O2 to kill bugs in soil. Eggs and larvae are very susceptible. Adults will survive being sprayed (as in a garden), but a brief dip in the stuff will flood and destroy the tracheal (respiratory) system.
It should work just as well on reed bugs.

Just saw that the OP decided to throw out the rest of the box though, so it might not matter. I didn't notice that before.
 
#23 Ā·
There is a nice joke about the three magicians.

Three magicians a German an American and a Neapolitan are dining together during a magiciansā€™ congress.

At some point the conversation steers towards who is the best magician.

The German magician to prove he is the best points at a fly on the wall (itā€™s a cheap restaurant... :) ) and this is hit by a lightning and dies, the American magician laughs waves his hand and another fly on the ceiling fan explodes creating a trail of 6 white and 7 red stripes and 50 minute stars in a blue light.

Now the Neapolitan magician, who was a poseur and couldnā€™t do any of this, is hoping that there are no more flies but unfortunately one decided to sit right in front of him on his glass.

He waves his fingers and nothing (of course!) happens...


the American and German magician look at each other puzzled and then ask : ā€œ Is this allā€ ?

The Neapolitan magician looks at them smiling sardonically and says: ā€œ That fly will never be able to lay eggs anymore!ā€
 
#24 Ā·
Chigger attack here.

That food chain deal can be a real drag when you and your s#it ain't at the top of it.

Circle of life ... all part of nature ... it sounds good, but where the rubber meats (!) the road on who or what is getting chomped, my attitude changes. By way of contrast, it is reported that an ancient was so enthralled with life, that he replaced the worms that had fallen from his mortified flesh ulcers, muttering endearments and encouragement for them to return to the feast. See Durant, History of Civilization, vol 4, p. 60.

I have never heard of an insect or arachnid feeding off of a woodwind reed before.
 
#30 Ā·
I have never heard of an insect or arachnid feeding off of a woodwind reed before.
That would be nothing compared what one of these guys would do to your reed supply:

Water Fluid Mustelidae Rodent Terrestrial animal


That's why there are no sax players up in the Great White North, just beer drinkers.

Cap Hat Headgear Font Poster
 
#25 Ā·
Me neither... hence the shock. It had taken big bites out of both sides of the tip but curiously left the middle bit of the reed tip. Those smart caps don't leave much room like a conventional cap would so the little rascal was enterprising. I'm pretty sure it was in the bamboo and emerged.. it has been very warm here too. I'm going to check the other reeds but I'm thinking it was a one off and one for the Saxophone Museum of Horrors. My friend was having a leak problem on his Mark VI tenor a while ago... couldn't figure it out. Having a pad replaced revealed a moth in residence.
 
#26 Ā·
there is no plant on earth without something feeding on it ( let's not forget other arthropods next to the arachnids! Lots of them feed on plants. There are also bugs which have an opportunistic behavior and would feed on a number of thing containing cellulose.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20150514-the-insects-that-eat-history

If there ever was an empty niche , in millions of years of evolution, would have been occupied by something.
 
#28 Ā·
Crops are often even more vulnerable because diseases and pests have new hosts literally lined up in rows.

I have found some interesting fungi inhabiting reeds, mouthpieces, and horns, but never any animal life that I am aware of. Well, unless you count the time my then-kitten climbed into my bari's bell while it was on my workbench.
 
#31 Ā·
I am not aware of any living organism which is not fed upon or parasitized or infected by any other living organism.

The only temporary exception to this rule is when you for example bring an organism outside of his living context but it is a temporary thing.

Reed has numerous specific organisms which eat infect or parasitize it. There are also a number of of non specific organisms which will do the same.

It's a jungle out there!

 
#33 Ā·
sterile? It's reed!How can it be sterile?

By the way , smaller brands even touch every reed by hand!



FILTHY (...not) :)... well cooks do the same with out food in expensive restaurants!

I remember well when also the straws we used were made of natural reed (different reed!).

They would never pass food heath and safety these days.
 
#34 Ā·
I wish I'd kept my head and photographed the bug and the reed. I'm old school and just recoiled and washed it down the bathroom sink and threw the reed away. If anyone is in any doubt you'll just have to trust me. I'm certain it was an infestation in the reed that emerged. Maybe Vandoren the company know something ..I can't see them wanting to publicise their products in this way. A rare one off experience.
 
#35 Ā·
there is no way for you to prove that this didnā€™t happen after the reed emerged from his package.

I am quite sure that they are packed in nitrogen which reduces the likelihood that anything living would do that for any long time in that gas.
 
#36 Ā·
I saw something on this forum a while ago about whether reed makers do or don't apply pesticides or take other measures to avoid insects, etc. I think Vandoren in particular has published something about how their process produces supposedly cleaner (free of bugs & foreign matter) reeds with less harm to the environment.
Anyway, I think such parasites could appear at any point between cultivation/production, and the end user (the human one, that is), and it is probably possible for any make including Vandoren.
That said, I always clean my mouthpiece with mildly soapy water, and my reed with clean water, after each use, then leave them to dry out. I give the reed a few minutes to dry after wiping it off and then put it into a Vito Reed Gard or else the plastic holder that it came in. Everything is then typically kept in a Crown Royal bag tied shut.
For keeping the ligature secure when storing the mouthpiece, I use the butt end only, cut off, of a used reed. I never keep a reed on the mouthpiece in storage.
I'm sure that even doing all that, an insect in the right place at the right time, who is hungry enough, could get to one of my reeds...
I do doubt that they like the taste of plastic, so that's another selling point for Legere I suppose.
 
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