 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Keil
Date: 2001-10-28 01:49
I know they no longer exist but i'm wondering if they were as fabulous as everyone says they were why didn't someone try to keep them going? I really detest reeds at this point... hahaha... don't we all... and the things i would do for a nice piece of cane are unspeakable... i would practice.... HAHAHA.. .just kidding.. but seriously... is it too late to resurrect (sp?) the Morre line of reeds?
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Author: GBK
Date: 2001-10-28 02:56
Greg Smith once wrote the following on the Clarinet bulletin board:
Name: Greg
Date: 02-23-99 23:13
You are only partially right Daniel and Hiroshi. Robert Marcellus WAS responsible for the development of the Morre reed if only in a SLIGHTLY roundabout way. For many years, Karl Marks Sr. was Marcellus' friend, a former student and as Marcellus told me "his ears" from the audience in Severance Hall, Cleveland (approx.1959-1970). Marks Sr.(of Marks Music fame) was also the sole distributor of Morre reeds after Marcellus encouraged him to establish that sole distributorship when 2nd clarinetist Jim Rettew had a student show the reeds to Marcellus for the first time in 1960 or so. Marcellus thought so much of their potential at that time that in succeeding years he literally gave instructions to the maker in Vienna (Karl Firstl) via his friend and U.S. distributor Karl Marks of Pennsylvania on how to improve them and what resultant changes worked or didn't work. This included any number of things concerning cane quality, length of cut, width of cut, etc. They were not scientificly calculated recommendations but they were general, alterations that Marcellus believed would help the reed and it's basic playing characteristics. And with a few simple rules of carpentry, they could be worked down with rush or preferably sandpaper to produce the most magnificent sound on a Kaspar (Cicero, Chicago and even Ann Arbor) of any reed at that time, or any time.
The V12 style would never have been developed if it were not for it's predecessor, the Morre. The difference being -amongst other things - that it seems Vandoren wanted the V12 to play right out of the box for mass marketing purposes...hence the comparative flimsy quality of the V12's
in relation to the Morres of the 1960's and early 70's.
The Morre (German Cut 12.5 tip width) that Marcellus used was in it's heyday from around 1962-1973 as he told me (and as I've experienced!!). There were shipments that were dogs every once in awhile even back then but most of the reeds were what he refered to as "lolipops" out of the box, needing very little if no work. If you knew how to work them down as he showed you, they were incredible. The Morres left over today don't even come close to resembling what they were before 1973 or so. The maker went defunct about 10-12 years ago and destroyed his machines and has never revealed the source of his unique cane.
I hope that I have been able to shed a little useful information to this bulletin board and to Daniel and Hiroshi.
Gregory Smith
Clarinetist
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Mouthpiece Craftsman
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Author: Ed
Date: 2001-10-29 02:30
As the above post reads, they are no longer being made, but Marks music (www.marksmusic.com) does still have them available if you wish to try your luck.
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2001-10-29 03:28
Ed said:
"As the above post reads, they are no longer being made, but Marks music (www.marksmusic.com) does still have them available if you wish to try your luck."
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In my opinion, the reeds that are now available are not representative of the quality described in the above post of mine from a couple of years ago. I was refering to reeds that were manufactured in "lots", the representative ones having already been used or purcheased long ago. The boxes available now are not from those magnificent "lots" - only lower quality "lots" that are from left over shipments of over a decade ago.
Gregory Smith
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Author: Daniel
Date: 2001-10-29 17:22
I have bought some reeds from Marks and some from Mr. Alexander (owner of the Alexander line of reeds). Even if most of these are of poorer quality than the boxes available in the 60's and 70's, many of them are still great reeds. Unfortunately they very much more widely in a box than any commercial reed of present. One reed will be a tree, and the next will be tissue paper. But i've managed to work most of them into usable concert/solo reeds.
It's not really worth the $30+ per box that Marks sold them for a few years ago (probably a bit more nowadays). I've had better luck with the old plastic purple box Vandorens as far as consitency. But even those command $20-$30 per box depending on the source.
I think you're better off either learning how to make reeds from scratch, or working good quality commercial reeds.
Daniel
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