Klarinet Archive - Posting 000464.txt from 1997/10

From: "Frederick S. Sterns" <fssterns@-----.net>
Subj: Re: Bass Clarinet Reeds
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 15:07:25 -0400

>I recently ran out of bass clarinet reeds. I know that some players use
>tenor sax reeds in place of the bass clarinet reed. To make a long story
>short, I bought some tenor sax vandoren V16 reeds to use until more
>reeds arrived.
>
>I found the reeds played first time, no fiddling, no sanding, etc. Is
>this common or was I just lucky? Do people use tenor sax reeds for this
>reason or other reasons? Are tenor sax reeds an acceptable alternate for
>bass clarinets reeds? Does any one care what you use?

...your experience parallels mine exactly...I've been using tenor reeds in
general, and V 16s in particular for some period...and, like yourself, have
yet to find one of the latter that didn't work satisfactorily out of the
box. Some, of course, are a better than others...but all have been quite
useable.

One of my tenor saxophone colleagues, who does mostly "classical," likewise
swears by the V 16s. Several members of this list also, from time to time,
have recommended tenor reeds as superior alternatives to bass clarinet
reeds. Fred S.