The majority of whistle player experience a syndrome known as clogging. This is when saliva build up clogs the airway of the whistle and distorts the sound. As a Low whistle player I have used a product known as JetDry to stop the clogging and I have alsways had success. I just coat the inside of the airway with jetdry, let it dry and bingo, no more clogging.
If humidity is a problem could you apply a very light coat of jetdry to the reed to solve the problem this would place a barrier on the reed without interfereing with the workings of the reed.
Has anyone thought of doing this procedure on a reed? It would be a delicate procedure for sure.
I’ve not heard of jetdry but I’ve soaked cane slips in Neets foot oil. I’ve noticed some improvement but nothing to revolutionise reedmaking. Also, I don’t yet know if soaking the slips in Neets shortens the lifespan of the reed. Time will tell.
My understanding, which could always be wrong, was that things like JetDry and others things used in whistles to prevent clogging acted as anti-surfactants. They do something to keep the water from forming drops and to make a film of water which drains more easily. Thus the water keeps running off the dish or down the mouthpiece of the whistle instead of making beads of water which just stay in one place and either clog the whistle or take longer to dry on a dish.
A reed, again this is just a guess, I may be wrong, would be absorbing moisture from the air and swelling up—and the swelling up is the problem. But it isn’t going to have water running down it (okay, it does run down our foreheads on humid days, but that’s sweat, not just the humidity in the air) to the extent that beads of water are forming—I don’t think. The anti-surfactant doesn’t keep moisture off something or dry something—it’s not a dessiccant, it just makes beads of water form into a film. So I don’t think the situation is the same as with the whistle mouthpiece. I don’t think I would put it on a reed. But just my opinion, and not too well educated on this topic at that.
KY has good humidity. Just play them… don’t be worrying about humidity and tuning and silly things like that… just play them and enjoy them.
Maybe get a cheap hygrometer at RadioShack or wherever to be sure you don’t play in very dry conditions… not likely where you are… other than that… just play the bleedin’ yokes
“Too dry” weather is a problem - that’s certainly my experience. The humidty here in the summer months is beautiful at around 50% in the morning, but is generally between 20 & 30% by the afternoon. However, although dry weather is a problem, I prefer too dry to too humid as my reeds are made to play in dry conditions and go to crap when the humidity picks up.
Yes - Once the humidity gets really low or really high, you’re stuffed and you’re not ging to get a reed playing perfectly. Some say not to play the pipes at all if it’s a really dry or damp day.
Generally, when you fine tune a reed with scraping and adjustments, the humidity needs to be at a typical level for where it will be played, as deviations from that level on subsequent days will upset things a bit. Therefore, if a reed is causing grief on a particular day, don’t do anything drastic to get it playing better, because it will not play well when the weather returns to normal.
I’ve already mentioned that dry weather doesn’t cause me as many problems as damp weather, but I have generally learned to identify a humid day as one where the back D plays flat and the ‘Hard D’ plays really easily.
Hold on folks…I don’t dare use this on my reeds…I just wanted to know if any of you had tried it or had an opinion about it.
Its my opinion that the humidity would need to be very high to cause problems and although my climate does have those days…we don’t have enough of them to convince me to use jet dry.
No, I was just wondering if such a product could be used and if it was recommended…may this suggestion rest in peace…
In the name of science, I’ll try it anyways. AFTER I manage to make more than 3 reeds that work to my satisfaction. Who knows how long that’ll take of course.
