Klarinet Archive - Posting 000110.txt from 2008/05

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Reeds
Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 08:14:00 -0400

> So, what do you use and why do you like them? Not, "because they make me
> sound better!" What is it about the quality of the cane and its handling
> that you like?
>

For clarinets in Bb and A, I prefer Rico's Mitchell Lurie Premium. They're
made from speckled cane. For some reason, that speckling does seem to
correlate with finer, smoother grain--something to do with climate
conditions where the reeds grow.

The criticism of Mitchell Lurie Premiums I see most often is that they don't
last as long as some other brands, but they seem reasonably durable to me.
Even if they don't last quite as long as some others, they're still a
bargain, because they're moderately priced to begin with and nearly every
box contains 100% playable reeds. They're predictible, too, with all the
reeds in a box very much alike and "3-1/2" meaning the same thing from one
box to the next. (Some people prefer Vandorens because different reeds in a
box may vary in stiffness by a half-step or even a full step--but that's the
main thing I dislike about them.)

It's extremely rare to find a Mitchell Lurie Premium that's sloppily cut,
badly-grained or otherwise unusable. They're consistently well-crafted. I'm
an amateur and probably not as fussy as a pro needs to be, but fwiw, I
rarely do any sanding or other manipulation of these reeds when they're new,
beyond swiping them a few times on some reed rush or, if I'm lazy, on the
cleanest place I see on the sheet music!

Lelia Loban
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/Lelia_Loban

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