Klarinet Archive - Posting 000959.txt from 1997/12

From: "J. Shouryu Nohe" <jnohe@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Reeds
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 16:44:25 -0500

I don't find this to be such a hassle myself. Typically, Vandies are
boxed so that you get a good range of minute differences: A box of 4's
will contain reeds ranging from an actual 3.7 to 4.3. This is GREAT for
me, since I live in New Mexico. I hop around the state a lot, and the
altitude and temperature changes everywhere require that I have softer and
harder reeds at different times. With Vandies, I never have to buy
another strength, I simply know which reeds are a little harder/softer in
the box, and mark them that way. Making the transition is easy. I can
play just as easily in Las Cruces, as I could in Selma, Alabama; the
humidity won't affect me that much (other than my hair ^_^ ). And since
there's only 10 reeds in a box, I don't find it convenient to sit and go
through a whole pile of reeds to find the perfect ones...which,
coincedentally, will only play well in the climate that I tried them in.
Also, it's a little inconvinient for a college student without a job who
is in massive debt from recently purchasing a new Greenline to travel to
France just for reeds, hmmmm? ^_^

Shour

On Tue, 23 Dec 1997, Antoine T Clark wrote:

> I consider it a hassle to buy reeds because you don't know what you are
> getting in the box. Some have written about pre-selecting the reeds and
> buying what they like the most. I like to make my own reeds and I find
> better results in making them. I know you can work on store bought reeds,
> but it makes more since to me for someone just to buy reed blanks and
> start from scratch. Besides a box Vandoren cost about $20 from a local
> music store and from a catalog about 12 to 15 dollars. I find it much
> cheaper to buy about 60 reeds for about $40. In a store $40 only can get
> you about 20 reeds and half of them don't work.