Klarinet Archive - Posting 000662.txt from 2004/11

From: "Keith" <100012.1302@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Sandpaper vs. Reed knife
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 05:26:20 -0500

When one uses Legere reeds, as I have exclusively for several years, one can
take a relaxed view of all the medieval theology of reed scraping, shaving,
manipulation, fingering, rubbing, soaking, licking, drying, praying,
immersing in pigs' urine for seven days, etc etc. OK not everyone, nor every
mouthpiece, gets on well with them, and a really, really good player may
sometimes get better results with cane. But even if you insist on organic
substitutes, it is worth asking the question, what can we learn from the
behaviour of Legere reeds? I think that this is relevant to many of the
assertions made about natural cane, balancing, etc. My information comes
from my own experience, plus listening to Guy Legere give a lecture on his
reeds.

First, a given type of reed (eg the Quebec Cut) is always made to the same
dimensions. The grade (hardness) is achieved by adjusting the composition or
structure of the material. Guy came to this conclusion after measuring very
many profiles and stiffnesses of commercial reeds. Cane reeds as
manufactured by one manufacturer are essentially made to one single profile.
The variation in grade comes from selection of the material - density of the
cane and in particular the density of the fibres relative to the softer
filler.

Second, every Legere reed that I have used has played exactly as advertised,
and I have never heard a report to the contrary. The success rate out of the
box is 100%. They are always perfectly balanced (meaning that each side of
the reed plays the same way if you twist the clarinet so that you are
blowing mainly on one side).

It appears that the material is excellently under control, and the machining
extremely consistent. The machining should not vary enormously from cane to
polymer reeds. If anything, Legere's are tougher material than cane - don't
even think about using a reed clipper. So my conclusions from this as
applied to cane reeds are

1. The selection of the cane material, for its basic stiffness, is of
paramount importance. Anything that you have to do to soften or harden a
reed is a compromise, which will give you a profile that is less than ideal.

2. Likewise, anything that you have to do to balance a reed is likely to be
because of non-uniformities in the cane - different density of fibres from
one side to the other, for example.

3. Reed profile duplicating machines will give consistent profiles, but not
consistent reed playing behaviours.

Cane will vary enormously in density and uniformity depending on the growth
conditions (soil, temperature, sunlight, whether the reed is on the inside
or the outside of the bunch ...). Most manufacturers probably use the same
or similar cutting machines. They may differ in the skill of setting, or the
frequency of sharpening the blades, but after that, it has to be the
availability of quality cane, and the ability of the manufacturer to
recognise and select this, that makes the difference. It should not be a
surprise that the success rate is less than 100%.

Keith Bowen

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