Doublereed Archive - Posting 000009.txt from 2004/05

From: PhilFrei@-----.com
Subj: [DR-L] Plastic Reeds
Date: Thu, 6 May 2004 20:49:04 -0400

My recollection of "Plastics" in "The Graduate" was that it was a sort of parody of the "go west, young man" type of advice, and that plastics were kind of hot and new in the sixties. But maybe the film-maker did intend to also make a reference to plastic surgery.

As long as we are on the subject of plastic, a while back someone mentioned the Legere plastic clarinet reed as being of a reasonably good quality. So I went to their site (www.legere.com), inquired if they were working on a plastic oboe reed, and asked to get on their mailing list. The following correspondence occurred.

(As usual, I am verbose and prone to grammer mistakes and inadvertant mistatements. For example, I didn't mean to say French style oboe reeds are unstable and useless (obviously untrue), but rather that the "Fibrecane" oboe reed on the market is truly awful.)

+++++++

1/28/04

Phil

You have been added to the list I will contact when we have a reed to
offer.
We are not settled yet on what type of cut we will use.

Thanks
Guy Legere
Legere Reeds Ltd.

+++++++

1/28/04

Dear Guy Legere:

Thank you for the reply! I l will be eagerly looking forward to hearing more about your efforts to bring a new plastic oboe reed to market.

May I make the suggestion that you consider offering some sort of blank or partially finished reed? Oboes are so finicky and particular, and my guess is that your new plastic will be amenable to touch-up scraping that will allow one to "personalize" the reed to their style and oboe.

While marketing a French-style reed (a la the current "Fibre-cane" oboe reed on the market) makes a certain amount of sense, the pitch is so unstable that the reed is pretty much useless. I would like to strongly request you give serious consideration to offering some sort of "Philadelphia" style reed, as is used by a vast majority of the amateurs and pro's in the U.S.A.

Best of luck with your efforts!

Phil Freihofner
Oakland

++++++++++

1/29/04

Phil

The reed will definitely target the US market.

Thanks
Guy Legere
Legere Reeds Ltd.

++++++++++

Make of it what you will.

- Phil Freihofner

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