back to square one

[Jeff]

That’s great news James I’m glad you have no issues with their hardness. In South Africa the synthetic reeds cost more than a box of ten cane. I have two reeds in a plastic tube with a sponge soaked in listerine. I play these two for many months alternating between the two and this way some have lasted nearly a year before they become too soft. I also wash the reed after use and keep them slightly damp in the plastic tube. I find a new cane reed very rough on my lip which is why I buff them smooth on both sides.

[sxpoet]

The life expectancy of a reed is directly proportional to how often you play the reed.

The less you less you play the reed, the longer it will last, similarly the more you play the reed will quickly shorten it’s life.

How well you store your reeds and rotate them will only give you a slight advantage in the life expectancy.

[Jeff]

Re. “How well you store your reeds and rotate them will only give you a slight advantage in the life expectancy.”

Doesn’t it make you wonder how any sax player gets through a gig? I think the reed manufacturers will have a lot to say about that statement.

Being knowledgeable on reed maintenance and modification can save you a packet just ask the Reed Geek chaps.

Help for reed problems

[sxpoet]

Here’s something for you to think about –

I’ve been using the same two cane reeds on my sax for under a year, they’re average playable, suitable for practice, i don’t rotate them properly, i just pick one at random and use it for the whole time i practice that day.

Here’s the important fact, i don’t play for longer than an hour everyday, and i only practice 6 days a week, i have one day off.

Stop and think, a professional sax player, practicing in the day, playing gigs at night for a living, several nights a week, for several hours at night – imagine how long that reed is going to last?

for 6 hrs a week my 2 reeds would last up to 9 months.
I don’t know how many hrs a week a working sax player would play. I would guess he would play at least 24hrs a week, that would reduce the life expectancy of the reed down to 2 to three months if he randomly rotates the reeds. Also he’s going to look after his reeds either in liquid or reed cases.

[Jeff]

Last week I was very happy with my tone on the YAS26.
This week I can’t believe how crap it sounds!

Buying a JJ HR* Custom Dark for my YAS62 has ruined the tone of my YAS26 – LOL
Quality ruins our appreciation for the mediocre, and my bank card is looking nervous.

[sxpoet]

Checkout the difference in the neck size between your 26 and your 62, we know that student saxes are designed for kids around the age of 10 to be able to play easily with their not fully grown lungs and smaller body frames.

One of the interviews i watched, claimed that it was the type of neck used on a sax that made it a better sounding sax, not the difference in the range of identical brand saxes. But i’m no expert, i could be easily miss-informed.
Share the knowledge, i’ve relearnt stuff from other peoples comments, yourself included.
Some stuff i’ve read hasn’t sunk in properly, and then later when i physically experience it either by design or accident, i realise the experience from trying things out.

i learnt something new this week, the repair men spray table wood polish on the mouthpiece after a mouthpiece tip has been removed, leave it for 5 or 10 minutes, and the backing glue stuck to the mouthpiece comes straight off. must taste nice.

[sxpoet]

i’m now retesting a different reed out of the 11 reeds i bought, one day at a time.
I’ve started with the D’addario reeds as everyone worked, compared to the Vandoren.

Day one -The La Voz – i’ve ruled out, it’s playable, but not responding as well as i would like, and the sound isn’t suitable for my dark mouthpiece

(Jazz musicians choose these for their powerful tone and flexibility, featuring a well-balanced profile and stronger spine to provide you with a full tone, no matter your playing style.  
IDEAL FOR: JAZZ, ROCK, EDUCATIONAL, SCHOOL MUSIC)

Day Two -the organic reserve reed – excellent, just perfect sounding and response for my dark mouthpiece.

(Provide you with dynamic flexibility and exceptional, warm tone quality when playing due to their long vamp profile. Feature a traditional tip to give you an ease of articulation and response.
IDEAL FOR: CLASSICAL, CHAMBER, EXPERIMENTAL, NEW)

[Leo Salu]

James love all these details, can’t find this kind of information about reeds anywhere, very impressive work thanks LS

[sxpoet]

Day three – ORGANIC SELECT JAZZ UNFILED – it’s playable, responds better than the La Voz, but the tone is too hard for a classical sound, compared to the Organic Reserve. Also the reed was too week for a strong altissimo G sound. Not suitable for my dark mouthpiece.

(Offers great projection, clarity, and a vibrant sound.
IDEAL FOR: JAZZ, ROCK)

[sxpoet]

I been playing along to Johnny’s Michele backing track using the Bb Clarinet, and the classical tone from the clarinet sounds very close to the way it was sung, so the type of reed i’m looking for to use on my Dark Sax Mouthpiece has to sound close to the clarinet tonal sound.

Also looking for another reed that can get me nearer to a clear buzzy jazz sound when i play michele.

Playing the backing track, has given me a clearer understanding of the type of sound i’m looking for from a reed, instead of just looking for any reed that sounds great.

In my reed tests, what i do is play through all the Major scales using a music sheet that has the scales printed out on (i find this is far more useful for music sheet playing than just playing the scales from memory as i’m looking at each note and playing it).

Also playing through the scales helps me judge how well the tone is in terms of harshness, mellowness, clearness, mouldiness etc and it also helps me in judging the responsiveness in getting how long it takes to blow to get a note out, which is very noticeable in timing between notes of the scale – whether it’s giving a uniform sound of notes or not.

At the end of the day, it’s the sound i’m looking for, and how well it responds, i’ve already got the average strength of reed to work with. I can’t use No.2 reeds as most of the time after 10 mins of playing they get too soft to play and i have to change the reed. I have a similar problem on the clarinet with No.3 reeds, so i’m going have go up a reed strength on the clarinet. Clarinet reeds are slightly smaller in width than alto reeds.

[Author]

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