Klarinet Archive - Posting 000608.txt from 1998/01

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Reed Preferences
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 09:13:49 -0500

Patrick Deal was advised to try three brands of reeds:
Zonda, Mitchell Lurie Premium, and Vic Oleiveri

Wow! These are the extremes of differences - they encompass about as much
variety in cut and cane as can be possible. The Oleiveri reeds are good,
but require an enormous amount of work to get them to play....the break in
period is quite long, and they are expensive (at least, they used to be).
They employ a thick blank (much like the Vandoren V-12's), but I
believe the cane is grown in Spain rather than France (not a bad
thing...just a different country, climate, etc.). The Mitchell Lurie
Premiums on the other hand are made of excellent cane with a dramatically
different cut on the face of the reed. They have always responded right
away with a tendency to wear out quickly (because of the thinner cut from
the heart and rails). A five ML feels like a 3 VO.

The Zonda's are one of the best new reeds to come out in a long time.
They appear to use good cane, and the cut more resembles a Vandoren reed.
Many people on the list seem to prefer these to other reeds.

Many people like the LaVoz reeds; I have never liked them personally.
Frankly, I have always had a hard time getting them to sound good!

Roger Garrett
IWU