Klarinet Archive - Posting 000168.txt from 1998/10

From: "David B. Niethamer" <dnietham@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] re:Reed Myths
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1998 00:04:56 -0400

On 10/1/98 10:36 AM, David C. Blumberg wrote:

>As to Vandoren, the Hand Select reeds are (this is only my guess, and
>opinion) looked at and selected for evenness of cut, and the way that the
>cane looks. They don't play them, so there is no way of truly knowing the
>sound of the cane, nor response. If I did play Vandoren, I would use the
>V-12 or the Hand Select(I did before switching to Grand Concert Thick Blank
>5 years ago). At least I would have a chance of getting a few good reeds in
>the box....

When the Vandoren Hand Select reeds were first marketed by Vandoren, they
had a promo - send a $1 (US) donation to the Chicago Symphony, and
Vandoren would send you 2 Hand Select reeds. The two they sent me were
unplayable, and not (cosmetically) something that would have been "hand
selected" by anyone with even close to normal eyesight.

I wrote back to Vandoren (and returned the reeds for their examination,
asking about their criteria for "hand selection". Their response was that
the reeds were selected for quality based on the color and "evenness" of
the cane - visual inspection.

I wrote back, explaining that as a reed maker, I valued consistent
thickness and symmetrical nature of the basic blank over cane color. In
fact, I find cane color and evenness of grain in the tip to be no
predictor of how a reed will ultimately play. But they never responded.
If I have to play a commercial reed, I'll take a V12 any time. If I have
to.

David

David Niethamer
Principal Clarinet, Richmond Symphony
dnietham@-----.edu
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/

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