Klarinet Archive - Posting 000741.txt from 1995/12

From: niethamer@-----.BITNET
Subj: Re: Single Reed Making
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 09:42:38 -0500

Julianne Kirk wrote:

> >I am a high school student who is very frustrated with
> >commercial reeds. I am interested in learning about reed
> >making. I have learned a little bit about reed adjustment for
> >example on commercial reeds. Do you have any suggestions of
> >books to read on reed making? Do you have any other suggestions?

On Sat, 30 Dec 1995, Ken Erion wrote:

> I had some xerox pages on reed adjusting from: Woodwind Anthology, A
> Compendium of Articles from The Instrumentalist on the Woodwind
> Instruments, publish by the Instrumentalist, Evanston, Illinois.
>
> I also made notes from the following articles although I don't know
> where the articles came from:
>
> Manual of Reed Fixing by David Bonade
>
> Handbook for Making and Adjusting Single Reeds by Kalmen Opperman

I addition to the Opperman, which is the classic, and Bonade, which is
available from Leblanc Publications, as a part of "The Clarinetists
Compendium", there are the following:

1.) The Reed*Mate Reed guide by George T. Kirck
available from Reed*Mate
P.O. Box 1217
Westbrook, Maine 04092
(207) 797-0857

I find this book to be complete and excellent.

2.)Making and Adjusting Clarinet Reeds, by Glenn H. Bowen
pub. by Sounds of Woodwinds
(is this company still in business?)

I also found the following in my collection, but I'm not sure how good it
is beyond an advertisement for the Perfect-A-Reed:

3.) Perfect-A-Reed, by Ben Armato
Box 594, Ardsley, NY 10502

In one sense, reed making isn't hard - the basics are pretty easy to
grasp. It's all that trial and error to find a routine to produce good
reeds for your own mouthpiece - i.e., experience - that takes all the
time. I find the time well worthwhile.

David Niethamer