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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000050.txt from 2007/10
From: "David Crispin / Crispin's Creations" <crispinscreations@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] Re: Plastic reeds (oboe)
Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:19:35 -0400
List,
Ed is among the enlightened regarding his use of an ultrasonic cleaner to
extend reed life.
Here's one that does a great job and doesn't cost an arm and a leg, Unlike a
Branson, it comes with a device which will suspend the blades of your oboe
and English horn reeds into the cleaning solution, while keeping the dirty,
greasy corks OUT of the cleaning solution. You don't want to try to clean
your reeds in a greasy cleaning solution, or in greasy water.
Ultrasonic Reed Cleaner for Oboe, Bassoon, Sax. SALE !
Here's a bassoon reed adapter for that ultrasonic which will suspend only
the blades of bassoon reeds into the cleaner, so that any potentially toxic
coating on the string of the reed won't dissolve into the cleaning solution
and get all over the reed's blades:
Bassoon Reed Adapter for Ultrasonic Cleaner
David Crispin
Crispin's Creations and Accessories
----- Original Message -----
From: "Edward B. Flowers" <flowerse@-----.net>
To: <doublereed@-----.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 6:59 AM
Subject: Re: [DR-L] Re: Plastic reeds (oboe)
> Herb,
>
> Howard Saginur got me started cleaning my reeds with a Bransonoort 200
> hypersonic cleaner. It gets the plaque off the inside and outside of the
> reed and greatly extends reed life.
>
> Edward B. Flowers (ob, EH)
> New York City
>
>
> herb fawcett wrote:
>> Hysteresis is a problem in plastics. It is controlled in rubber tires but
>> is
>> not so easy with a sound generator.
>> Artemus Edwards (Albuquerque, N.Mex) is an expert on the subject of
>> plastic
>> bassoon reeds, and long ago he discovered a manner of adjustment which
>> required addition of bits of plastic (acetate cement I believe) here and
>> there on the blade rather than the traditional approach of removing
>> material. For some time I have wondered if someone will work out a carbon
>> fiber
>> system, but I think it is expensive. The stuff would, at least, not have
>> the
>> maddening tendency to return to its original form like all the poly...
>> materials. Glass-fiber reinforced plastic was an idea, but it becomes
>> impossibly abrasive as the fibers are exposed. Didn't work. With the
>> double
>> reed, there is also the challenge of achieving a non-dampening seal at
>> the
>> edges of the blade, etc. I have always felt that to be a contribution to
>> the
>> occasional "gem" we create. The accidentally "perfect" relationship of
>> seal
>> tension, resiliency of the seal at the edge, and the perfect ratio of
>> parenchyme and schlerenchyme in the raw donax. If it happens to be at the
>> proper pitch... Wow!
>> This beloved research would benefit from some serious funding - but from
>> whom? An impossibly small market. Even the market for cane reeds that
>> play
>> very well is small. Each player demands some special character in his
>> reed.
>> It goes well beyond soft, medium, and hard.
>>
>> Herb
>>
>> On 10/2/07 11:40 PM, "philfrei@-----.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Has Mr. Legere made progress with plastic oboe reeds?
>>>
>>> I remember tracking down his patent, a couple years ago, on the
>>> processing he does for the plastic to get something approaching arundo
>>> donax. There was a lot of interesting background information on this
>>> document, which can be found online at the US gov site for patents.
>>>
>>> From what I recall of the background info on the patent, arundo donax
>>> has a unique amount of resilience for its mass. My "science" may be a
>>> little off on this. But the main point was that there aren't any other
>>> known substances that can match its unique combination of properties.
>>> Plastic (was it polyurethane that he was using?) normally would not do,
>>> but Mr. Legere has come up with a way of creating strands or some such
>>> structure in the plastic such that it is much closer to a.donax. But as
>>> of a couple years ago, if I remember correctly, clarinet players I
>>> talked to said the clarinet reeds still didn't quite make it as a
>>> "concert" substitute -- rather they was being used mostly as a reliable
>>> backup practice reed. If these reeds are now being used in concerts,
>>> then I am guessing he has continued to make advances with the
>>> technology.
>>>
>>> Other plastic reeds are hopeless, very difficult to get any pitch
>>> stability at all (on the plastic oboe reeds). The Legere plastic
>>> process seems to me to be the only one that offers some promise.
>>>
>>> I hadn't heard of allergies to arundo donax, but have heard of
>>> allergies to different types of rubber and plastic. It seems to me that
>>> would be devastating for a reed player. Is there any way to leech out
>>> the allergens without destroying the reed? Or to coat the reed without
>>> destroying its playability? (Or convince the immune system it doesn't
>>> have to be quite so vigilant?)
>>>
>>> By the way, what are "plastic cover" clarinet and sax reeds? Do they
>>> have a thin layer of plastic between the cane and the player? Could
>>> that process be used on an oboe or bassoon reed? (Could such a process
>>> extend the life of a good reed?)
>>>
>>> - Phil Freihofner
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 12:01:01 -0400
>>> To: <doublereed@-----.org>
>>> From: "geraldcorey" <geraldcorey@-----.ca>
>>> Subject: Re: [DR-L] Plastic reeds (oboe)
>>> Message-ID: <000b01c8050d$6e0c6940$0a02a8c0@homec8g9semhjm>
>>>
>>> Dear John (et al) I had a visit not long ago from the designer/maker of
>>> Legere reeds for single reed instruments. These are completely plastic
>>> reeds
>>> now used by James Campbell, one of the world's most exceptional clarinet
>>> virtuosi and others in classical orchestra (recently one played Bassett
>>> Horn
>>> I in Mozart's Requiem with my National Arts Centre Orchestra,
>>> beautifully
>>> using a Leger reed for bassett horn). No one would have guessed that his
>>> reed was not made from arundo donax.
>>> When Mr. Legere visited my home in Ottawa he asked me many questions
>>> about
>>> oboe and bassoon reeds, because he has been working on the design of
>>> oboe
>>> and bassoon reeds made entirely of plastic. John, if you google Legere
>>> Reeds, Toronto, Canada, you will find the URL of Legere products and
>>> will be
>>> able to ask Mr. Legere in an email if he has made progress on finishing
>>> the
>>> design of oboe reeds in his plastic material. I would recommend them
>>> over
>>> any other type of plastic reed I have tried in the past. Sincerely,
>>> Gerald
>>> Corey, Ottawa
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "David Crispin / Crispin's Creations"
>>> <crispinscreations@-----.net>
>>> To: <doublereed@-----.org>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 10:58 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [DR-L] Plastic reeds (oboe)
>>>
>>>
>>>> John,
>>>>
>>>> I know of a decent orchestra in which the principal oboist uses
>>>>
>>> hand-me-down
>>>
>>>> reeds from the second oboist. I'd say they were "has been" reeds, but
>>>> actually they're more like "has-never-been" reeds.
>>>>
>>>> I know this oboist pretty well, and he would never even consider
>>>>
>>> using a
>>>
>>>> plastic reed.
>>>>
>>>> My wheels are turning on this. I'll mess around with some thoughts
>>>>
>>> now going
>>>
>>>> through my head.
>>>>
>>>> -David Crispin
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "John Worrall" <john.worrall@-----.ca>
>>>> To: <doublereed@-----.org>
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 7:22 AM
>>>> Subject: [DR-L] Plastic reeds (oboe)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> I have a colleague who feels he has developed an allergy to reed
>>>>>
>>> cane. He
>>>
>>>>> is experimenting with fibrecane reeds. Does anyone know of a case
>>>>>
>>> where a
>>>
>>>>> decent orchestra has managed with a principal oboe using plastic
>>>>>
>>> reeds? Or
>>>
>>>>> is this the impossible dream?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>
>>>>> John
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>> Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! -
>>> http://mail.aol.com
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
>
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