OK, my friend that plays bassoon said she read where double reed players diped their reed in vodka and its kind of cleans them, and it makes them last longer. Has anyone ever heard of this?

well...thats certainly interesting. I`ve never heard of it

Sometimes you can extract another performance out of an old reed by soaking it in vinegar for half an hour and then carefully cleaning it out on the inside and thoroughly rinsing it out in cold water. This dissolves the hardened saliva and calcium deposits from inside the reed and can sometimes give you another performance.

I`ve never heard of using Vodka. Perhaps your friends are getting an early start on the post concert drink;sounds like a great idea!!

wow. in vodka?! i`d have to say i`ve never heard of that and it sounds completely mad, vodka gets sticky doesn`t it? well imagine that getting into your instrument...ew. BAD images.

thanks for the info.

my trumpet playing friend said some guy played on his mouthpiece, (yea, he was mad) so he soaked it in vodka... maybe it just kills germs?

oh umm, if ya soak ur reed in vinegar, will it smell/taste bad even after washing it with water? b/c i wanna try that but never mind if it`ll taste like vinegar.. bleh.

Never heard of it, but now I`m a scientist and see the logic. It would be a slight anti-bacterial and cleanser. You can`t use rubbing alcohol or isopropyl or wood alcohol because it`s poison. Most people don`t know of or buy unflavoured alcohol, so it`s natural to talk about vodka. I say, why not Listerine or light coloured mouthwash? Strat man Dwight

I use listerine, its a good cleaner, and it gives the reed a nice fresh taste.

if u use listerine will the reed turn the colour of the flavour?

hmm.thanks for the advice...might try that vodka thing so i can get started on "postconcert drinking" lol. well with our terrible alto-sax section, it might not be such a bad idea. but wont the listerine turn my reeds colors?

the reed will turn an extremely light shade of the color, But it is hardly noticible.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!soakin reeds in VODKA?!?!?mabye if u want 2 get bombed b4 u play!!!!!!!