Klarinet Archive - Posting 000485.txt from 1996/10

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Vandoren Hand-Select reeds
Date: Sun, 20 Oct 1996 22:02:14 -0400

For those of you who have been wondering, Vandoren most certainly does
manufacture a grade of reed called "Hand Selected". Perhaps somebody
more knowledgeable in this area can elaborate on what the actual
selection process involves. I would assume a particular batch of cane is
harvested and chosen for its consistency (and other meritorious qualities)
and then made into a batch of "Hand Selected" reeds.

A long-standing theory (and it's ONLY a theory, as far as I know) is that
Vandoren has been harvesting its cane sooner and sooner, and allowing it
to cure for shorter and shorter periods of time, resulting in a diminishing
level of cane quality over the years. Perhpaps the hand-selected cane is
harvested later and "seasoned" for a longer period of time, thereby producing
a batch of relatively superior cane.

Unfortunately, buying the hand-select grade of Vandoren reeds is no guarantee
that they will be that much superior to Vandoren's "regular" grade. I've
had good luck with them, and have found that the cane is of a consistent
quality throughout a given box. What this means, though, is that if the
cane is only mediocre for the first reed, it is very likely that the whole
box is consistently mediocre. With "regular" Vandorens, you still stand
a chance of finding one outstandingly good reed amongst the crap in the
box. Here's the kicker: Hand-Select reeds cost roughly $10 to $12 more per
box than regular Vandorens. With these kinds of prices, I'm looking very
closely at Zonda.

If you're still interested in giving them a try, they should be available
through any of the main mail-order houses in the country (Weiner, Woodwind,
Muncy, etc.).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Neil Leupold
Southern Methodist University
Meadows School of the Arts
nleupold@-----.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org