 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jonathan
Date: 2001-06-17 03:06
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone's tried Rico's Grand Concert - Evolution - (in a black and gray box) reeds. I've tried their Grand Concert Select reeds before but saw the Evolution ones for the first time the other day. I only bought two reeds from a box of 10 and on the basis of those reeds I think I'm going back and buying all the boxes they've got. Maybe it was my lucky day or something but both were awesome reeds - well very playable at least. Normally I'd be lucky to get one or two good reeds from a box of Vandorens and I'm shocked. So does anyone else use them? What are your thoughts on them? (even if you've only tried them)
Also does anyone file/polish the rails of their reeds? What benefit or change is this supposed to make? (I think I heard something once about register changes being affected by this???)
Thank you,
Jonathan Farquhar (the Aussie one) :-)
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Author: Suzanne
Date: 2001-06-17 03:46
I tried them, and they were great the first day, and the second day, but then they got flimsy and too soft, and I ended up going back to Vandorens... but that's just me. I know a lot of people who love them.
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Author: ClarinetBoy
Date: 2001-06-17 13:07
Apparently the 'Evolution' reeds work very well with Greg Smith's mouthpieces but I have yet to try the reeds.
As far as I know polishing the rails sometimes helps with a general lack of resonance, or simply allows the reed to better fit the face of the mouthpiece. (don't quote me on this though!)
ClarinetBoy (the 'other' aussie one)
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Author: Sara
Date: 2001-06-17 18:46
How well do those Evolutions work with Greg's mouthpieces? I thought about trying them but he Grand concert selects soundede really bad with it so I did think the evolutions were that different. Aren't they just a spin off of the Grand concert selects?
Sara
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-06-18 03:15
Be careful how you polish side or tip rails. These are essential parts to the sound we make. Unless you know what you are doing or the result you will have/create I would tread lightly. Greg Smithg's mouthpieces are very expensive; I would suggest lettring Greg polish them if you have any doubts!
I like the Evolutions better than any of the previous Grand Concert reeds. They don't go soft at all for me. Their 3 1/2 is still a Vandoren 4. My experience is it stays that way. I wash & clean my reeds every day or when played, being convinced that saliva left on the reed to ferment leads to cell breakdown - my evidence is anecdotal not scientific. (works for me... )
Best,
mw
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Author: Jonathan
Date: 2001-06-18 10:43
Thanks for your replies, and the reeds that I'm trying are going really well at the moment - of course they aren't fully broken in yet but i think that they'll both be good reeds.
In reference to polishing and fileing I was actually talking about doing that to the sides of the reed not the actual mouthpiece and would not be adjusting my mouthpiece at all - I like it fine how it is. :-) I've got an old mouthpiece though - JD hite D i think about 5 years since i played it - and i wouldn't actually mind trying to make it more open and even the rails a bit - just for fun. But not on my Viotto mouthpiece. :-) And God help anyone that tries to. ;-)
Cheers,
Jonathan
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Author: SALT
Date: 2001-06-19 07:57
This question is directed towards mw. You say that you wash and clean your reeds when you play them. How do you wash them(what kind of stuff do you use, how do you do it?) I'd really like to make my reeds last longer because it's so hard to find the ones I really like so I'd like to get as much use out of those ones as I can!
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2001-06-19 10:36
Dear Folks,
How many have tried Reed Life - the product - or other solutions to clean and extend the life of reeds? In my experience, none will make a bad reed into a good one but it does extend the useful life of good reeds. Many of the major orchestras have players that use it routinely and it is used internationally to a much greater extent than in the U.S.. There is no such thing a eternal life in the reed world but with certain products the useful life is extended. I have done some contract studies for a couple of companies that detail the removal of siliva enzymes, bacteria, food particles, etc. using the reed treatment products.
The Doctor
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-06-19 14:28
SALT, I use WATER ... good ole h2o.
Omar, respectfully, I have used 2 bottles of the ReedLife product. It's fairly expensive, & I was not overly impressed with results from the reeds I treated. I bought a bottle for a teacher, & the review was similar ("now, how much did you pay for that stuff?")
For me ---- I will continue to rotate 10-15 reeds, break them in slowwwwwly, and clean them with water after use, letting them dry on a partially raised surface, like that of some of the older reed holders/cases --- this helps avoid warpage.
DSFDF & whatever works for you is the bestg thing to (always) do ---
Best,
mw
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2001-06-19 16:19
We're about ready to dropped of the list - perhaps this topic is interesting enough for a new post.
Dear MW,
You are probably already doing 2/3 of the cleaning job with your water treatment so the other 1/3 - the humectants may not be noticible. Many people however do not do the first 2/3, and, at the ultimate price of a good reed - it is probably?? worth it to extend the life. Many of the orchestra types have lulls when the reed dries out an has to be remoistened and often this is not easy to do (or so I am told). The humectants retain water and ease the process of rewetting the reed. I do not have these problems because I just start and stop. If you could see the "fizzing" on old reeds that I have seen at shows when treated with several cleaning products it would indicate that a lot of people have reeds with "crud" on them and in them. The cost of these products is high but maybe we can do something about that through modern chemistry!
The Doctor
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-06-20 05:11
Omar, my reeds costs me approx. a $1.00 for the Vandoren Traditional & $1.15 for the V-12's. With the cost of the Reed Life running $10-12 for the product plus the cost of shipping & handling ... it hardly seems worth it. Like I said, DSFDF.
Best,
mw
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Author: Clairgirl
Date: 2001-06-21 06:02
Jonathan,
Is your Viotto similar to the Hite "D"? I am looking to switch from the hite but nothing I have tried so far I have liked, including some Vandorens and Greg Smith mouthpieces. My search is getting hopeless...Any info would help.
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