Klarinet Archive - Posting 000453.txt from 2005/05

From: "pwHarris1" <pwharris1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Question on Gonzales FOF reeds
Date: Tue, 31 May 2005 13:23:10 -0400

Walter

I play on several different mouthpieces. The one I use at anytime is
dictated by my mood at the time. I am mostly playing on Dan Johnson
mouthpieces, one hard rubber and one some sort of wood. I also have a
Ridenour redo of an old Selmer HS**. The Dan Johnson mouthpieces require a
3½ - 3¾ FOF reed and the Ridenour/Selmer requires a 4 - 4¼ strength.
I normally play a new reed after wetting, for about 2 - 3 minutes.
Then I use the Ridenour method of balancing a reed that has recently been
discussed on this list, and play the reed for another 10 - 20 minutes. If
the reed is unresponsive after balance I will discard the reed and go to the
next in the box. At that time the reed normally is showing signs of
becoming mushy.
I put the reed into my rotation in my 12 reed case and go to the next reed
that has by now been in the case for 4 - 6 days. After the first use the
reeds will have a longer staying power witch grows with each use until they
begin to start fading, normally after 10 - 12 hours of use. I don't
normally use a single reed for more than 2 hours at a time, and prefer to
not use them more than one hour at a time.
My experience with FOF reeds is one of a high percentage of good reeds.
Many reeds witch are not of the keep variety out of the box are very good
with a little work and I have very few witch must be tossed.
I hope this is the sort of information you were looking for.

Paul Harris
pwharris1@-----.net

----- Original Message -----
From: <GrabnerWG@-----.com>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 29, 2005 5:25 PM
Subject: [kl] Question on Gonzales FOF reeds

>I am quite "sold" on the Gonzales FOF reeds. I really don't want to start
>a
> "I like my brand of reed best contest here. I know many of you get good
> results from a variety of different brands).
>
> Of those of you out there, who use Gonzales reeds, what strength do you
> prefer. I seem to always wind up back at the 3 1/2 strength. Is that the
> consensus of other Gonzales users, or do you congregate at a slightly
> harder (or
> softer) strength?
>
> How many of you use a Gonzales 4, for example, and if so, with what
> mouthpiece?
>
> Walter Grabner
> www.clarinetXpress.com
> World-class clarinet mouthpieces
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
>
>

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