Storing It:
Take your Fiberreed from the mouthpiece after playing and dry it. It is the best to dry it in the original packing or in a reed case. Do not leave your Fiberreed on the mouthpiece. The corners of the reed tip could bend after longer use in direction to the mouthpiece which would change the response. If this happens anyhow, dry your Fiberreed carefully for instance on a heater or with a hairdryer. The temperature should not exceed 80° Celsius (176° Fahrenheit). After this your Fiberreed should have the original form again.
Keeping It Clean:
You can clean your Fiberreed in many ways. Adequate agents are dishwashing liquid or toothpaste. A disinfection with alcohol or an nontoxic disinfectant is possible. We recommend this especially if your Fiberreed was used by others.
Working It:
It happens that little pieces quarry out at the tip of the reed. This does not affect the sound and the response normally. You may smoothen the reed tip by sanding it with a sandpaper grain 1000 in a 90° angle (like filing finger nails) carefully. Remove as little material as possible (0,5 mm/0,02 inch). Otherwise your Fiberreed will loose its harmony and will get too hard.
You can work on Fiberreeds like you would on a cane reed. You will need sandpaper grain 500–1000 and for the rougher work grain 300–400. To make sure that you do not breath grinding swarf you should use abrasive paper for wet sanding and wet the reeds before you sand them or wear a mask.
Making It Softer:
If your Fiberreed doesn’t response well or seems to be too hard you have to make it thinner. Normally it is sufficient to work on the tip of the reed. The sound will get a bit brighter thereby. Take a piece of sanding paper and sand the tip of the reed on the first third of the cut carefully. After each sanding play your Fiberreed to find out what has changed. You continue this process until you get the desired result.
If the low register is hard to play you have to work on your Fiberreed with rougher sandpaper at the rear part of the cut. This is the last third of the cut where the reed achieves the full thickness and changes over into the shaft. It is necessary to remove more material to achieve noticeable result. It is essential here as well to play your Fiberreed after each sanding.
Making It Harder:
If the low register is hard to play you have to work on your Fiberreed with rougher sandpaper at the rear part of the cut. This is the last third of the cut where the reed achieves the full thickness and changes over into the shaft. It is necessary to remove more material to achieve noticeable result. It is essential here as well to play your Fiberreed after each sanding.
Making It Harder:
Take the fine sandpaper with grain 1000 and shorten the tip of the reed in a 90° degree angle (like filing nails).You may use a reed cutter as well. But the cutting edge will not be as smooth as before and should be reworked. You should not shorten more than 1 Millimeter (0,04 Inches) in general because the measures will change too much otherwise and will not harmonize anymore.
Making It Narrower:
Some mouthpieces are smaller than the standard measures. To make your Fiberreed smaller take it at the shaft and sway it upright on the edge on sandpaper with grain 500. Take care to hold the reed only at the shaft. You should never give pressure to the tip half of the reed because this would change the form of the reed very fast. Cut your reed on both sides alternating until you reach the desired width. Finally you round the edges of the reed on the sides with fine sandpaper (grain 1000) at the part of the reed where the lips lay on it.
Adjusting The Tip To A Mouthpiece:
Take the fine sandpaper with grain 1000, work in a 90° angle (like filing nails) and bring the reed tip into the desired form.