Klarinet Archive - Posting 000727.txt from 2003/07

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] New type of reed by Vandoren
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 22:38:22 -0400

At 11:21 AM 7/24/2003 -0400, Don Hatfield wrote:
>And so I got too wrapped up in my first post to pose the question to some of
>you who have "been around a little longer" (that won't rankle anyone I
>guess) as to what the reeds of old were like...are my old fifties Vandorens
>typical of their era?...and out of curiosity what other reeds were around in
>the fifties/sixties that were popular and/or dependable?

I have some old Ciccone Symmetricut 4's that I bought in about 1973. When
I got them, the box was sealed with tape imprinted with the name of a music
store that had been out of business for 8 years. They were too hard for my
setup at the time and I wound up giving many of them away, but I kept 10 or
15. A couple of years ago I was playing an O'Brien OB* and tried them out
on it. They were beautiful! And every one worked right out of the box! As
I got low on them I searched for something that would be equivalent and
found that Mitchell Lurie 4 1/2's played similarly. I have just a couple
Symmetricuts left, although I now play a Woodwind K10M which requires
softer reeds (Mitchell Lurie 3 1/2) but gives me a bigger sound, especially
in the chalumeau.

>And as for the discoloration issue, I have found that the ways mentioned by
>some of you here work well in removing it from a mouthpiece, and will add
>that after watching a repair tech-friend buff the embossed print off a nice
>old Brilhart hard rubber piece to remove the discoloration, I searched for
>less-destructive means.

Sounds like he drastically overdid it. DO NOT let him buff and relacquer
your saxophone!!!

>After washing and cleaning in water, and drying, I
>use a little Meguiar's Mirror Glaze number 10 to gently rub and remove any
>discolored areas. It's a non-abrasive made to "restore optic clarity" to
>anything from eyeglass lenses to aircraft windshileds, and does no harm to
>the rubber, but does a darned fine job of making an old mouthpiece look new
>and remain that way for a long period of time. Works well on scratched CD's
>to make them usable if they're not too terribly damaged.

Nice tip!

Bill Hausmann

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

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