When do you chuck that favorite Reed?

[john]

Hi Johnny – bit of question for you.

Up until a few weeks ago, i was only dumping my best reeds when they were physically falling to bits, that is bits had broken off the tip, or the tip got bent and creased.

Until i had a lesson and the reed i took with me started squeaking loudly – my sax teacher told me to dump it as it was on its way out , which was correct in that case.

One of my best reeds wont play a high Fsharp & it looks ok – so i changed it and got a perfect Fsharp from another reed.

So now i’m under the impression that reeds can be passed their sell by date even if they look ok?

Be interesting to hear if you have any other pointers on when to ditch your favorite reed?

[john]

you can’t tell a reeds condition just by looking at it, unless it has a split or is chipped. I always know by how it feels when playing it…
I get a slightly thinner sound, or at least it feels thinner, and I also loose a bit of control on the higher register, especially altissimo.

[john]

ok – thanks, thats what i thought. I noticed some new reeds straight out the box just don’t cut it when you play beyond high D, so i normally chuck them in the long run as they never get played.

[Author]

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