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Wondered if I might be able to get any thoughts on a reed dilemma...
I play baritone in a rocky soul type band. It's loud stuff, and I suppose I play quite hard.
Just recently though, I'm having issues with reeds splitting. I use a combination of LaVoz medium or medium hards, or Plasticover 3 or 3.5, depending on my mood, and what I dig out the case first.
The last 6 gigs though, I've gone through exactly 7 reeds. Each one has broken in exactly the same way - with a longitudinal split straight down the reed, anything from 5-10mm long, usually along a "vein" in the cane.
It seems to have started sometime after changing mouthpiece, from a stock new metal link, to a more customised HR Link with a bit of baffle in it. The reed splitting didn't start immediately, but I've been using the new mpc for about 8 weeks, and splitting reeds for 3 or 4 of them.
Has anyone got any ideas as to what might be happening, or how I can stop it? In the UK, we're paying the equivalent of about $10 a reed (a box of 5 is about £30!!), and this reed splitting habit is getting expensive!!
I play baritone in a rocky soul type band. It's loud stuff, and I suppose I play quite hard.
Just recently though, I'm having issues with reeds splitting. I use a combination of LaVoz medium or medium hards, or Plasticover 3 or 3.5, depending on my mood, and what I dig out the case first.
The last 6 gigs though, I've gone through exactly 7 reeds. Each one has broken in exactly the same way - with a longitudinal split straight down the reed, anything from 5-10mm long, usually along a "vein" in the cane.
It seems to have started sometime after changing mouthpiece, from a stock new metal link, to a more customised HR Link with a bit of baffle in it. The reed splitting didn't start immediately, but I've been using the new mpc for about 8 weeks, and splitting reeds for 3 or 4 of them.
Has anyone got any ideas as to what might be happening, or how I can stop it? In the UK, we're paying the equivalent of about $10 a reed (a box of 5 is about £30!!), and this reed splitting habit is getting expensive!!