Klarinet Archive - Posting 000043.txt from 2009/07

From: Glenn Kantor <klarinet@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] eefer reeds For those that use them
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:03:48 -0400

Kurt -

Good luck on your new store...

However, as far as VIBRATOR reeds are concerned:

VIBRATOR reed were probably the WORST mass produced reeds ever made in the
history of the clarinet. No other reed is even close.

These were the reeds with the grooves in them (4 grooves actually) and were
made in the 60's and 70's by the Chiron Company. The company used to be
located at 1650 Broadway in New York City.

They marketed the "Vibrator" clarinet and saxophone reeds heavily in the
60's and 70's, and even advertised in Downbeat magazine. Their main endorsee
was Julian "Cannonball" Adderley.

Their ad usually touted the "patented tone grooves - to improve tonal
brilliance".

The reeds were very inexpensive, and were primarily sold in bulk to many
schools for their clarinet and saxophone students. If I remember correctly,
they were .25 each and came in colored individual cardboard holders (blue
was #2, green was 2 1/2, etc...) which would fit in the reed machines in the
band room. Students could insert a quarter and purchase a reed.

The cane used was a toasty burnt brown - seemingly like they were baked in
an oven. The sound they produced? I'll be kind by just saying "thin and
buzzy" .

I actually still have about 100 of them on the shelf in my studio. I keep
them strictly for sentimental reasons, to remind me of the days (and the
sounds) of teaching beginning band.

----- Original Message -----
From: <kurtheisig@-----.net>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 2:58 PM
Subject: Re: [kl] eefer reeds For those that use them

>I am one of the several on here that cut down Bb reeds to use on Eb. In my
>case Vandoren standard cut Bb # 5's on an open mouthpiece I made
>specifically for use with a Bb reed.
>
> In packing up our Santa Cruz and Saratoga stores to move to MONTEREY I ran
> across HUNDREDS of Eb reeds. Lots of them are SOLO ESSER reeds handmade by
> Gebhard Steuer in Lindau Bodensee back in '69 or earlier. Fabulous cane.
> LOTS more are VIBRATORS!!!!!! Despite their advertising gimmick of a set
> of slits down the bark, these are really good cane. I would guess they are
> from when I was in high school, back in '64?
>
> It is all GREAT CANE, for those that use Eb reeds
>
> Our new store is at 856 Lighthouse Ave, Monterey, California, 93940. We
> are right above Cannery Row and the Aquarium. I don't know what our new
> phone number will be, but they tell us our old one (831) 425-5658 is
> supposed to ring through.
>
> I would love to see any of you there.
>
> Dave Poole and I have been collecting old clarinets for years, and hope to
> have lots of them on display. Also available for perusal by conductors,
> and bandsmen will be the Hastings, Band Library. Those who have been in
> the old Santa Cruz store know how much we crammed into that tiny, narrow
> deep store, but we couldn't get to the library in the back room. On
> Lighthouse, it feels HUGE. There is plenty of room to sit down at desk
> and check out clarinet parts if you want to. The Hastings Band played at
> the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz from 1886 to 1957. Except for my personal
> library, there is little there newer than 1950. There are lots of pieces
> or arrangements from the 1800's. When vacationing in Monterey feel free to
> visit, we are only 3 very short blocks from Cannery Row and the Monterey
> Bay Aquarium.
>
> Kurt
>
> -----Original Message-----
>>From: Lelia Loban <lelialoban@-----.net>
>>Sent: Jul 13, 2009 4:59 AM
>>To: klarinet@-----.org
>>Subject: [kl] eefer reeds
>>
>>Richard D Bush wrote,
>>>You are running the risk of splitting the barrel
>>>wide open by removing the rings. If a cork
>>>happens to swell you could loose the barrel.
>>>The receiving sockets have rings on them for
>>>a reason...the same reason an old fashioned
>>>wooden bucket has bands around it; that being
>>>to give strength and hold it together. >
>>
>>Please heed Richard Bush's warning! I'm not a professional repair tech,
>>but
>>as the owner (I still pretend I'm not a collector...) of -- well, let's
>>just
>>say "several" old clarinets, most of which I bought at flea markets and
>>junktique stores, I restore clarinets as a hobby. The most severe damage
>>I
>>encounter in the instruments I decide not to buy (because they're beyond
>>my
>>ability to fix) is severe cracking. The crack almost always runs through
>>a
>>tenon or tenon socket and it happens more often on the barrel than
>>anywhere
>>else. Usually, on a barrel, the crack runs the entire length of the
>>barrel.
>>Often, that crack splits so wide open that if I hold the barrel up and
>>look
>>through it as if it were a spyglass, I can see daylight all the way down
>>the
>>crack. It's no coincidence that, in these especially bad cases, I usually
>>find one or both of the rings rattling around loose in the case -- and
>>it's
>>apparent that the rings came loose and fell off first, before the barrel
>>cracked, because the crack has so grossly increased the diameter of the
>>barrel that the rings can't be slid back on again. I think simply closing
>>the crack wouldn't do the job: the buyer would need a new barrel, because
>>the internal dimensions of the old one change when the barrel splits wide
>>open that way. It's a Humpty Dumpty.
>>
>>It's a lot cheaper to find and buy reeds that fit, and put that barrel
>>ring
>>back on while the clarinet is still in sound condition.
>>
>>Lelia Loban
>>http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/Lelia_Loban
>>
>>
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