Last night I was practicing sax and then suddenly my reed stopped playing. My sound had been a little funky the last few times I had played and when I looked at it the reed was warped. My reeds have warped before, but never while I was playing them. It had lasted me maybe two weeks.

At this point I soak my reeds (vandoren v16’s) in a mixture of about half scope and half water for 10 days- until they sink. After that many days I put them in a plastic bag and seal it. When I finish playing I rinse it in the same sort of mixture. Occasionally I’ll take them about after less then 10 days if I need to play, but they’re not completely wet at that point. The reason I do all this is something that many other players have told me- that the moistening and drying out process is what destroys a reed. When I started playing a reed would be one way on a particular day and then change on me. If it’s always wet the chances of this happening are reduced.

I’ve seen special moutpiece caps with a little sponge that gets the reed a little moisture when you just set it down. Some people just leave the reed on the moutpiece and put it away like that, but it can get kind of nasty. With the process I use it’s disinfected and the reeds last about two weeks. It’s time-effective if you play a lot since playing also wears down the reed. So far it’s given me good results.