Klarinet Archive - Posting 000197.txt from 1998/10

From: Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.Net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Grooves on old reeds
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1998 22:31:26 -0400

Lelia wrote:

>Several "garage horns" I've bought have come with old reeds in the cases.
>These reeds have deep horizontal grooves (usually 4 of them) all the way down
>the rounded sides of their heels. I'm looking at one right now that's
stamped
>on the back "Chiron" and "Made in U. S. A." along with company logo in script
>that begins with the letters "Vib...." followed by about 5 or 6 more letters
>(mostly worn off). The V looks like the Vandoren "V", but the word clearly
>isn't "Vandoren." What was the reason for the grooves down the reed? Does
>anyone make reeds this way now? If not, when was this design discontinued?

They sound like Vibrators, which were quite popular with dance band sax and
clarinet players in the 1940s. Some people thought they gave more volume
and a bigger tone than standard reeds. In the days when the only mike was
for the vocalist and the emcee, reed men needed to be able to blow the band
away when they stood up for a solo. I still cherish two cracked but
playable Brilhart Tonalin mouthpieces from that era. They degrade one's
sound more than a little, but man, are they loud. Getting back to
Vibrators, I decided the grooves were just a gimmick, and went back to My
Masterpiece reeds. There's a brand I wish hadn't disappeared.

Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.net>

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