Klarinet Archive - Posting 000469.txt from 1997/03

From: ROBERT SALTIEL <robert.saltiel@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: reed adjusting
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 14:29:29 -0500

Frauke Nonnenmacher wrote:

FN> RS> (leak?) at the mouthpiece, or sometimes sound fuzzy. Mostly I
FN> RS> think it's the hissing and lack of vibrance of sound that I
FN> RS> encounter with most of the reeds in the box (apologies
FN> RS> in advance for the subjective terms ;-)
FN> RS> Please tell me some practical tips so that I may have some
FN> RS> wisdom/understanding as to how to approach my reeds with knife,
FN> RS> sandpaper, rush, etc. intelligently.

FN> Robert, you made my day! I'm not alone with this problem! Hooray!
FN> Honestly, I was starting to get really desperate about this. I'd
FN> appreciate any words of wisdom on this subject greatly as well.

Indeed! I am thirsty for some knowledge/insight on the esoteric art of
reed adjusting. In addition to checking Sneezy on this subject, I AM
hoping some fellow Klarineters will share a little bit about how they
approach this!!

Even though I really want to learn about this, I do think I have
reached the last straw (or cane?) with the Vandorens, and will take the
advice Gary Young gave, which is to try out the Grand Concert thick
blank reeds. I have been following all the good reports on those
reeds. It really amazes me how one reed in the box (Vandorens) can be
truly _perfect_, and the rest can be so _radically_ different in
performance (most sounding pretty mediocre and a few just plain bad).
I also found it is true that after a while into a practice session,
they do tend to suddenly suffer from getting waterlogged / excessively
soft or something similar.

But really, I am finding that it isn't worth spending $12 for just one
good reed -- well actually that lone reed plays so nicely, that in a
way that reed _IS_ worth that much <grin>! -- but truly, even if I got
two or three good Grand Concerts out of a box of 5 for $9, that would
be a great improvement!

Regards,

Robert

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