The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: fermata
Date: 2003-01-04 22:15
What have you found to be the best reed brand?
I am looking to experiment with a different brand and would appreciate some suggestions. I currently use vandoren and it has been suggested to me to use Gonzalez. Are there any other brands that may be good to try?
Many Thanks
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Author: Alex S.
Date: 2003-01-04 22:46
Try Gigliotti reeds -- I got one box recently, and 7 out of 8 were really good.
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Author: Peter
Date: 2003-01-04 22:51
Glotin and Alexander Superial I've found excellent, so far.
Marca are pretty good.
I'm getting ready to try Gonzalez, which I'm also told are excellent.
But remember that beyond the diverse quality results intrinsic to manufacturing, reed brand and type can also be a very personal choice, so trial and error are eventually going to be your best guide.
I don't know if you have this type of music store where you are at, but I have developed the best of relationships with the music stores I do business with and often they have open boxes of different makes, types and strengths of reeds (sometimes from a client who came in to try a clarinet or mouthpiece and they didn't have a reed or MP, so the store accomodated him/her, etc,) and they don't mind giving me one to try out of an already open box.
Sometimes if I see posibilities in the one, I'll buy a box to experiment further and it's often worth their while to lose one reed to make the sale happen.
Good luck.
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Author: John Gibson
Date: 2003-01-04 22:52
Fermata...
I've never gone wrong with Mitchell Laurie Premium. All are great.
Well.....maybe one is bad. Also tried Aonda and found them to be good as well for long facing MPCs.
John
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-01-04 22:59
Morre reeds until about 1973.
Now, Gonzalez FOF ...GBK
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Author: William
Date: 2003-01-04 23:22
It's hard for this "old dog" to learn any newer tricks, so I'm sticking with my VanDorens. Over the years, while they are notoriously inconsistant, with a little TLC, they have always satisfied my performing needs. I've tried just about every other major reed brand out there (and not just one--boxes) and, for me anyway, it is still hard to beat the sound of a good VD.
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Author: CPW
Date: 2003-01-04 23:26
The best reed is invariably the one you just accidently broke
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Author: Clarence
Date: 2003-01-05 01:14
I use Marca and Vandoren V12
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Author: wjk
Date: 2003-01-05 02:38
Gonzalez FOF....Goazalez FOF........Gonzalez FOF.....
Gonzalez FOF...... Get my point?
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2003-01-05 05:08
When I choose a reed, I make it a rule to:
1)look at the heel to see the fibre porous is very dense, and
2)look at around the tip through a light to see there are not
dark fibres scattered badly.
As to 2), now I seldom see beautifully silhouetted reeds such as old Olivieri(until 1976). This may mean they do not dry reeds for enough period under the Sun.
A small shop at Tokyo started to make their own reeds contracting with a French cane plantation. I tried their alto sax reeds and found them better than Vandoren or Rico's Hemke. This may be the finest way to avoid bad quality probelm caused by mass production and money-first sales principle.(I am going to try their clarinet reeds too.)
p.s. The shop name is Ishimori at Shin-Okubo, which is famous for
its sax repairmanship even to American Jazz players.
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Author: Dan Borlawsky
Date: 2003-01-05 12:59
For playability right out of the box and consistency within each box, I'd have to agree with GBK and WJK: Gonzalez FOF!
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Author: Bryan
Date: 2003-01-05 16:44
A bonus point also for the Gonzalez reeds is that they're available in 1/4 size increments. I also recently tried some of the new Olivieri Elite reeds from Muncy and they were not bad at all.
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Author: fermata
Date: 2003-01-05 22:43
Thanks for all the replies! I am going to try some of those brands out and see what works best for me...thanks again
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