Swollen reed on saxophone mouthpiece

Cane reeds will sometimes swell when moist, and depending on the particular reed and particular mouthpiece sometimes the swelling can be bad enough to push the reed away from the table of the mouthpiece, functionally lengthening the break, wreaking havoc with low notes in particular, but making the reed/mouthpiece feel stuffy or dead. This video demonstrates the physical effect that reed swelling can sometimes have and how to fix it quickly so you can get back to playing.

The affect seen in this video happens most usually on a mouthpiece with a very flat table, but even then it only happens sometimes. Not all mouthpieces have a flat table!

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• saxophone
• mouthpiece
• reed
• reeds
• mouthpieces
• woodwind repair
• sax
• repair
• otto link
• rico
• vandoren
• selmer
• refacing
• mouthpiece refacing

[ratiocinativeness]

Great advice. Make much sense. And VERY helpful!! While I always try to lightly plane the back of my reeds with a flat razor when they're dry to make sure the back is even, this swelling problem might be the reason why I have some reeds that still seem to be picky with my mouthpiece and still don't seal right even after planing the back of the reed and working on the end of the reed-- I'm gonna try working on the middle of the reed as you describe and seen what happens.

[abadcliche]

@ratiocinativeness Cool!  Definitely report back and let us know how it works for you.

[abadcliche]

Glad you guys are finding this useful! I finally got a better camera, and I am starting to post more videos of interest to saxophonists. Check out my "channel" to see some more, although it is just in its infancy now, I plan to improve and add more over time. 

[abadcliche]

I use a lot of different types of reeds, Vandoren among them. I think I had a Vandoren for this video, but the effect demonstrated here can happen on any cane reed.

[abadcliche]

Thanks saxtek! I've seen a few of his refaces and a few of his pieces, and his work was sublime.

I've recently found a book that makes my foray into reed/flat table science look like childs play. For anyone really interested in this phenomenon (which I would now call warping vs. swelling) I HIGHLY recommend checking out "The Saxophone Reed" by Ray Reed.

[abadcliche]

hey guys thanks for the compliments and ive glad its helped some of you. i didnt realize this video had over 4000 views! maybe i will do more sax/mouthpiece repair videos in the future.

as i say in the video, this doesnt work for everyone all the time. ive since found that 400 or 600 grit sandpaper on a flat surface vs. a scraper seems to work best. experiment and see what works best for you.

if you want to find out more about me, click on my username and go to my website in my profile.

[luisitosax]

I often use Fibracell synthetic reeds, and this is not a problem with them, nice video,

[ratiocinativeness]

@abadcliche I already notice a difference. And it's only when the reed is wet and well soaked. Just today I was at a practice and I was noticing that the reed was "rocking" on the mouthpiece as you describe. It doesn't do that when it's dry. So I did work on the middle a bit and there was an instant change in clarity and responsiveness... not super significant, but a noticeable improvement in sound.

[facebookfanify]

Do you use Vandorian reeds?

[MTWalker12]

I appreciate the info here. Thank you.

[MoonlightMelody2007]

A most useful and informative video. Thank you very much for sharing.

[tl1358]

@saxtek Ah yes! Frank Wells. Know anyone who make mouthpieces similar to him? For clarinet that is.