 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ishikawa Naoki
Date: 2005-07-11 17:46
I am curious; How do you (anyone) select reeds? Is there a system or process that people subscribe to? What are your thoughts? Is one brand better than another? ~ Ishi
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Author: D
Date: 2005-07-11 18:21
Well my unscientific method is, get reed out of box, get it wet, try it on mouthpiece. If it shows hope I might do something like smooth the back a bit, and that might make it fine. Some times a lump off with a pair of nail scissors of a jolly hard scrape down the back or down one side with the blunt (or sharp) side of a scalple blade does the trick. Anything that I don't like then goes in a tupperware box. There's about 40 or 50 reeds in there at the moment. I get a few out every few weeks and have another go. I always end up liking something I had previously discarded. I try to keep at least 4 reliable good reeds and about 4 not so great backups at all times. I have about 10 I could get away with at the moment, and about 3 or 4 that I would trust for a performance. If it is cold or damp or something else will make me change my mind on which reed I like, but mostly the really really good ones will always play. If I find one of those I mark it and try really hard not to play it too much. I won't use a really good read for practice unless I am practicing for a solo piece, I would rather keep the really good ones for a concert. I find it is better to practice on something not so great. I learn to play on more reeds that way.
When it comes to choosing the brand, well I am equally scientific - that is to say, not at all.
I apply the same procedure which I use in most of life - I buy the ones on offer. Really I do.
I know the strength range recommended by the manufacture for my mouthpiece, and I know that I can play comfortably in the mid to low end of that scale. So when I am looking at reeds (I buy on line mostly) I look at what is on offer and has a comparable strength in that range, and normally I order a pack to try.
At the moment I find 56 Rue Lepic (vandorens) work quite well for me, so I normally have a stash of those in a couple of strengths as a main source, and then play around with other makes.
I recently tried Mitchel Laurie and out of the first three reeds I grabbed found one that was ok, could play at rehersal but probably not for the performance standard. One that was so rubbish and floppy I chopped the end off with scissors, I'll butcher it for a bit with various implements (edge of a ruler that sort of thing), but I suspect that will be a practice reed. And one which tasted so absolutely vile that I can't play it. Yuck Yuck Yuck.
So there you go, that is my carefuly devised method! As you can see I am not precious about reeds and don't go in for all the reed adjusting systems and things. That is probably because so far I have never found myself really stuck for reeds that are ok and haven't therefore become desparate. I think the thing is that I am never going to always want the same thing for a reed everytime I pick up the clarinet, so making all my reeds the same would be daft.
I think there are probably some reeds that are just bad, and I would never be able to play on although they might suit someone else. The rest of the box is probably round about the mediocre mark, I can play them but I won't cry when they get chipped or split. There are the odd few reeds which are really really good. (As soon as I find one I try not to play on it!) I am sad when I break one of these, but I have so many reeds on the go at once that I almost always have another good one handy, and I refuse to spend my life in pursuit of the perfect reed. I reakon I am better of spending the time practicing.
There are some kids at the community orchestra and it seems that mummy buys them a reed at a time from the music shop. They play that till it falls apart, (or turns into a newlife form and runs away - you should see the condition of some of the instruments they play, ick.) then mummy gets them another one. I wouldn't recommend that.
All of which is probably way more than you wanted or needed to know.
so in summary
keep lots of reeds on the go at once.
don't stress over it, some reeds are rubbish, stick them in your store and come back to them in a month or a year. They or you will have matured.
Post Edited (2005-07-11 18:25)
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-07-11 20:26
I have a system now which I call "economic availability selection" (EAS). If some reeds show up on the infamous online auction site at a very low price and in strengths #4 or harder, and carry a reputable brand name or are a 'house brand' stencil, I buy them and store them for a few years. Later, when it's time to get them out and break them in, my handy reed knife will correct any deficiencies in their manufacture; and by then the cane will have been well-aged, regardless of cut or country of origin. I will have spent very little money along the way.
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Author: RodRubber
Date: 2006-02-10 04:04
Here is my method -
I get about six boxes of v12 4.5, go through them all, find between 12-15 good ones, which is adjust right off the bat using my ATG thing. I never sand the tips by the way, i really only need to take a couple swipes off the left side of the reeds. I then play them for about a month or so, then repeat.
I find having a large pool of reeds to pick from helps me find a good reed for whatever the weather is, and whether im in a large or small setting. Also, buy finding a lot of reeds once a month or so, i can spend more time practicing. The reeds seem to go through stages, and some days are worse than others, but I always have atleast a couple reeds that are ready for prime time.
When only a few of the reeds from a given batch are working, its about time to get more reeds. 1Stopclarinetshop has the best batch right now.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2006-02-10 04:43
Hi, Ishi -
For whatever it's worth, I'm more interested in playing music than 'fussing' over reeds and am presently using a Geo. Bundy 3 mouthpiece and regular Rico 2 1/2 reeds.
Selection method:
...take reed out of box, wet it and fasten it onto mouthpiece. Play it until it dies. When that happens, repeat the 'process'.
- r![[cool]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/cool.gif) n b -
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2006-02-10 10:18
I force myself to play all ten reeds in a box, for no more than ten minutes each. Repeat this process for three days. Usually the worst reeds from the first day become something more, and the best reeds from the first day become something less. This process is without any tweaking to the reed whatsoever. On the fourth day I line them up in order of merit, number them and then proceed to play on them, one a day, doing necessary adjustments from that point out. Four are usu. good enough for performance, the next three work o.k. and the last three are around to make me appreciate the other seven.
.............Paul Aviles
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Author: William
Date: 2006-02-11 14:32
D wrote, "I refuse to spend my life in pursuit of the perfect reed. I reakon I am better of spending the time practicing."
Amen................
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