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Here is my method of extending the life-span of reeds. I keep them in a cleaned plastic peanut butter jar, half filled with vodka, in their original reed-holders. My theory is that the bamboo grows in a swamp type environment which is fully saturated with water. So they have no problem with always being 100% saturated, since their natural habitat is being fully soaked all the time. This would work after the reeds are shaped, except for 2 factors: 1) if they were kept in water all the time they would eventually get decomposed due to mold or fungus or whatever, that's why I keep them in vodka (the alcohol kills the microbes). 2) the wet-dry cycle causes the fibers to weaken their bonds with the matrix in which they are embedded, so leaving the reeds 100% soaked all the time keeps them in a relatively static state where the only mechanical weakening they experience is from the reed hitting the mouthpiece facing. I have some reeds in here that I've been playing on for over 2 years with no noticable detrimental effects. On gigs, I keep the reeds in their holders into a 3"x5" plastic bag, then use a little spray bottle filled with vodka to spray the reeds and keep them constantly moist especially between sets. A little vodka for the reeds, a little vodka for the player, that works for me. |