Klarinet Archive - Posting 000681.txt from 2003/07

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] New type of reed by Vandoren
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 08:49:38 -0400

At 04:02 AM 7/24/2003 -0400, Glenn Kantor wrote:
>Now really... who didn't see this coming?
>
>With the meteoric growth, and the ever increasing piece of the market share
>by Gonzalez FOF reeds, Vandoren is now desperately trying to reclaim some of
>those lost customers.
>
>The trouble is that the 56 reed is a poor copy of the Gonzalez FOF reed.
>These "new" Vandoren reeds are user friendly and play right out of the box,
>but soon die a quick death primarily because they are still being made with
>the same mediocre cane that Vandoren is presently using with their V12 and
>Blue box reeds. (cane, that 10 years ago would have been outwardly rejected
>by Vandoren) One look at the fiber pattern on the 56 reeds will confirm that
>the fibers are still sprodically grouped, many not extending to the tip, and
>vast blank areas of no fiber.
>
>Until Vandoren improves their cane source, these will be nothing more than
>V12's with a different cut...

I wonder whether all these new "thick blank" and now "even THICKER blank"
reeds are not simply a reaction to problems of lower quality cane. When
cut to traditional standards, perhaps too many reeds were winding up as
2's. Cutting them from thicker blanks would produce more reeds from the
same hardness of cane? Just some speculation...

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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