 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Hy-Dex
Date: 2024-03-30 03:38
I understand that Brad Behn recommends using a 72% RH Boveda pack (presumably size 8) with his new reed case. I ordered a 10-pack of the size 8 72% RH packs and placed one each inside each of my three reed cases. So, as of today, I am trying it. For those who have done this - or are doing it now - have the Boveda 72% RH packs improved your reed stability to a discernible difference?
I read on the Boveda website that they recommend placing a 49% RH pack inside the case of a wooden clarinet or oboe. Does anyone do this? If so, were there any negative outcomes, such as a crack? I have no problem with the Boveda 49% RH pack increasing the humidity level inside my case to 49%. What concerns me is that if the humidity level goes above 49%, the Boveda pack will reduce the humidity level in the case back down to 49%. This means that the Boveda pack will draw moisture out of my wood clarinets and that rather concerns me. For those who have experimented with this, please share your experience(s). Thank you.
Hy-Dex
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2024-03-30 18:04
Hy-Dex wrote:
> I understand that Brad Behn recommends using a 72% RH Boveda
> pack (presumably size 8) with his new reed case. I ordered a
> 10-pack of the size 8 72% RH packs and placed one each inside
> each of my three reed cases. So, as of today, I am trying it.
> For those who have done this - or are doing it now - have the
> Boveda 72% RH packs improved your reed stability to a
> discernible difference?
>
I may be the only clarinetist on this BBoard who has tried using Boveda packs (and other reed humidifiers) and never been comfortable with the result. They keep the reed from drying out between playings, but when compounded with the moisture you add each time you play, the result for me has consistently been that the reed becomes very much stiffer over several playing sessions. I then need to lighten it up (and maybe re-balance it) to get it back to responding easily. So, for me the humidity is a source of instability.
I find it easier to just spend a little more time wetting each reed each time I use it (the older the reed, the more time it needs to soak). I find the reeds respond more consistently while maintaining their flexibility when I let them dry in a reed holder for a day and then wet them as needed the next time. I don't know which way provides for longer reed life, but keeping a reed alive for 6 weeks instead of 4 isn't my first value. Every time I have to re-adjust a basically waterlogged reed is another chance to screw the reed up by scraping or sanding in the wrong place, resulting in a shortened lifespan for some reeds that otherwise would have gone on longer.
I know this is counter to the overwhelming feeling here. Feel free to follow the advice of others who have more success with Boveda packs. And yes, if you use them, 72% is the level I've almost always seen recommended.
> I read on the Boveda website that they recommend placing a 49%
> RH pack inside the case of a wooden clarinet or oboe. Does
> anyone do this?
I have, with no bad results. I didn't ever feel I was getting any benefit, either, so I stopped doing it. Before that, I used Dampits, which didn't seem to help or hurt anything either.
> If so, were there any negative outcomes, such
> as a crack?
The only instrument I've ever had that cracked was a "rosewood" clarinet that cracked within a year of my buying it (new). But the wood (whatever 'rosewood" is) is unstable to begin with, compared to my grenadilla clarinets. It's a C clarinet that I don't play often, so it sits in its case in a closet much of the time. I found during that first year that when I took it out to play it one day in mid-winter, the wood had moved so much that the throat A key was binding. I put pieces of orange peel in the case (an old pre-Boveda technique) and within a day or so the key had freed up. For that clarinet, keeping a humidifier in its case seems to help stabilize the wood. I don't find any particular good or bad result coming from using a humidifier (e.g. Boveda) with a seasoned, older grenadilla (blackwood) instrument that gets regular use.
> I have no problem with the Boveda 49% RH pack
> increasing the humidity level inside my case to 49%. What
> concerns me is that if the humidity level goes above 49%, the
> Boveda pack will reduce the humidity level in the case back
> down to 49%. This means that the Boveda pack will draw moisture
> out of my wood clarinets and that rather concerns me.
Well, if the clarinet is happy at 49% rel. humidity and the ambient rh goes above that as a transient event (you open the case on an outdoor stage on a stormy day), then all that will happen when the rh comes back down once the case is closed is that it will return to the level the clarinet is already acclimated to. I've never seen anything to suggest that brief fluctuations up or down will affect the wood one way or another.
Karl
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Author: Micke Isotalo ★2017
Date: 2024-03-30 18:21
I've not used the Boveda packs, but other similar solutions.
For reeds I'm a long time user of the Vandoren Hygro cases (those with a sponge to add plain water to, and a "button" on the outside shifting in colour signaling when water needs to be added). Here, in the dry winter season, it's not unusual for the indoor relative humidity dropping down to 15-20 %, and those Hygro cases are definitely helpful - in stabilizing the reeds and making them a lot more predictable in behaviour, than otherwise.
For larger reed quantities I'm using a wooden cigar case with a hygrometer, and just a simple water jar inside.
I'm not adding any water to these devices in the summer season, or whenever indoor humidity goes above 40-50 % - both since there is no need, but also not to risk any mold.
I'm sure the Boveda packs would be similarly useful and beneficial.
Concerning humidifiers inside a clarinet case, my only personal experience is from a "water-worm" put inside the case of a new wooden clarinet with a binding key (also during the dry winter season) - which released that key.
Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about a crack caused by any kind of humidifier put inside a case. After all, the humidity delivered by such is really mild, especially in contrast to the "shock" when the instrument is played - with liquid water in sudden and direct contact with the bore.
Nor would I worry about a clarinet beeing "dried out" too fast by a Boveda pack. Many clarinet manufacturers recommends keeping the case lid open for about one hour after each playing session, for faster drying (especially during the break-in period of a new instrument, but also otherwise). An indoor humidity level then around 50 % or lower, would surely "dry out" the instrument a lot faster than a 49 % Boveda pack inside a closed case - so not a worry, at least not for me.
Post Edited (2024-03-30 18:31)
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