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Ethics of sanding down reeds

Author: Bartmann
Date: 2008-03-25 13:41
Attachment: DollarEuroChart.png (23k)

Friends,

I used to be an advanced amateur of clarinet who played every day. After changing careers so I can more sufficiently finance a retirement of European music making, I found myself only playing clarinet on weekends. As a result my embouchure has become weak so that my former set-up is way too resistant for me.

Listed in order of preference:
Viotto Mouthpiece - White Master, Strength 3.5
Vandoren M13 - Vandoren V12, Strength 4
Ralph Morgan RM6 - Vandoren V13, Strength 3

I stopped playing the Viotto, my favorite mouthpiece/reed combination, because I feel this will be the set-up I use when I retire at the age of 59.5 so I don't want to waste reeds by being a "weekend warrior" D. Blumb'g, and I want to have nicely aged reeds for the future.

So I've been playing the Morgan mouthpiece with Vandoren V12, 3 reeds. But since I had very few boxes of those I ran out. So I now have been using strength 4 and sanding them down significantly. So much in fact that the Vandoren label completely vanishes.

I don't want to buy weaker reeds because the weak dollar, (the "American Peso" as the Brits refer to it now) makes them so expensive. (See chart)

When I invested heavily in reed buying in the late 1990's to 2000 the dollar was stronger. I recall a box of reeds averaged about $13, rather than about $22 today. Also the 4 strength reeds were for my resistant set-up, rather than the less resistant set-up.

So I'm loath to spend over $2 for each piece of vegetable matter that I will need for my my less resistant setup. Also all this sanding eats up a lot of time for someone who can only play on the weekends. Because my flute requires so little effort and maintenance, I've forgotten the effort needed to break in and balance reeds.

So what do you think about the ethics of taking a finely aged Vandoren V12 #4 reed and sanding it down so significantly? It feels akin to eating filet mignon well done.

Thanks,
Bartmann

Post Edited (2008-03-25 14:04)

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Ethics of sanding down reeds

Bartmann

2008-03-25 13:41