 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jez
Date: 2003-01-30 13:36
The bass-clarinet in my orchestra is leaving this week and moving to another job. You can sit next to someone for 15 years and still be surprised by something you learn about them. It turns out he is a great hoarder of reeds and on clearing out his locker at work and his studio at home he has presented me with a load of boxes of the ones that I normally use. (he's changed strengths) Now he is one of those people who put the date of purchase on the box and some of these date back to 1991. A few that I've tried seem very good and I wonder if they improve with age. I would never dream of buying boxes of reeds and storing them away for future use, but wonder if anyone does and how much extra maturing the cane undergoes after manufacture. Perhaps I should be buying reeds now for my private tootling after retirement.
jez
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Author: Mark P.
Date: 2003-01-30 13:55
My clarinet teacher in college was a big advocate of storing and aging reeds. He said always buy two boxes at a time, use one and put the other away with a date on it. After two years start using the oldest boxes but keep buying two boxes a month to replace what you're using. That way you're always using reeds that have aged two more years. I never actually did this......
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Author: William
Date: 2003-01-30 14:40
If they are VanDoren Bb sops, then they also will have the old tip configuration which would be--as the commercials say--"Priceless."
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Author: William Hughes
Date: 2003-01-30 15:58
I quit playing Bb soprano in about 1965. I still have several of the Olivieri #3 reeds from that bygone era in seemingly good condition, which I plan to try again if I get a workable horn. I probably won't sound any worse than I ever did.
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2003-01-30 16:05
And to think last year I tossed out a couple boxes of Vandoren 5s I bought in 1986, still in the purple plastic boxes (they used to come in those, right?).
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-01-30 16:41
William has a good point - The older Vandorens (Traditional and V12) had the rounder tip configuration which I feel played with far less trouble (if there ever is such a thing with Vandorens) than the current version.
I strongly believe that there is definitely "something" about the older reeds, and I don't think it is my imagination.
Like many players, I literally have dozens of boxes of the older Vandorens (purple plastic boxes, small purple cardboard boxes), still unopened, as my emergency stash of reeds.
Whether the cane has "aged" or just that it was better quality, I would have to defer to the "Doc" and others who have made scientific comparisons (if that even is feasable).
Eventhough I play Gonzalez FOF and am extremely happy, the older Vandorens give me a small (and I do mean small) safety net of security.
I stopped being dependant on the newer Vandorens a few years ago, as I tired of their inconsistant cane quality, which to my untrained eye seemed to have a greenish tint. When that started appearing, I knew it was time to move on...GBK
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Author: Ed
Date: 2003-01-30 17:02
I have been using old Vandoren in the plastic purple boxes for some time now and find them to be better and more consistent that new ones. I get many out of each box. Possibly because the cane has really cured. (If anyone has any unopened boxes they want to sell, please contact me.) I am amused when I hear people talk about how much better the old reeds were. 20 years ago, people complained about how lousy they were at that time and how 20 years before that, they were much better.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2003-01-30 17:32
Hi, JEZ
To the best of my feeble recollections of yesteryear, from along about the late '40s on, people were cursing at their reeds :| Today, by contrast, along about the early '00s, I hear people swearing at their reeds. D'you really think another half century is gonna make any difference?
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2003-01-30 20:15
Just to put in my two cents:
I have been buying mostly Vandorens, Morees, and Glotins for many years. As you know, Moree is out of business, and I only have a few boxes left from 20 years ago. They are quite good.
I have a few dozens boxes of Glotins, which are also good, but the few hundred boxes of vintage Vandorens work the best.
I have found over the years, that 10-12 year old vintage Vandorens, regular cut, work better than any "new" reed, including new Vandorens.
I have them carefully stored in a cool closet with a humidifier in the room, and they have aged beautifully.
My students love to receive any "rejects," and there are a few, whenever I part with one of the oldies.
Quite often I try one of their new reeds and find them very inferior to the aged ones I use.
I have always tried to buy 10 or more boxes of reeds at a time, date them, and put them in the reed closet. Over the past 40+ years of professional playing, it has really paid off.
I can say, without fear, that I do not have problems finding a good reed. I may not always sound as good as I'd like to, but it's not the reed's fault!
JJM
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Author: nzdonald
Date: 2003-01-30 22:41
i had fabulous luck with old Vandoren (Blue and Purple plastic + cardboard boxes) and remember a couple as being the best reeds i've ever played..... (i was playing them after they had waited in a drawer for at least 20 years)
.... then i found 2 boxes of old #5s (light purple box) and didn't get a single good one out of either box. Most of them were too soft, had very uneven side rails and many were from a very thin blank... i mean really really thin. i guess this put me off the old stock Vandorens, and i lost interest in "the hunt" but now i remember those old ones that worked and feel nostalgic... hmmmmm
donal
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Author: William
Date: 2003-01-30 23:54
I have two unopened boxes of VanDorens (bx of twenty) bought in 1960--maybe it's time to give them a try.
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Author: Clarence
Date: 2003-01-31 01:02
Has anyone tried useing a reed clipper to reshape the tips on new Vandoren reeds ?
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Author: tramette
Date: 2003-01-31 03:08
I never came across any odl Vandorens, but I bought a box of 25 Maccaferri reeds from the 1940's for 18 dollars, and they work better than anything I've ever tried before.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2003-01-31 07:15
A box of 1 1/2 Vandorens, still sealed, from 1958 was in my drawer. A gentleman composer from St. Johnsbury, Vermont said he liked soft old reeds. So I sent it to him and, in return, he sent me a copy of his Sonata for English Horn, a farce, as there was no written music, all foot scraping, fiddling with a pencil, assembling the horn, etc. So you never know what you can get for old reeds!
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Author: Bob
Date: 2003-01-31 15:27
Wes, I really got a chuckle out of that one. It's about time for the story of the clarinetist who buys this old house and in the attic he finds box after box of unopened reeds......
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Author: Sandra F. H.
Date: 2003-02-01 02:58
I never did well with the purple box Vandoren reeds. I remember them as very, very green! I have several boxes of Morre reeds left. The Glotins were always warped on the tips because of the foam packing at the tips in the boxes. I haven't tried the Gonzalez, but I am soon! I had some old Marca's that were good, as well. I've had a few very good new V-12's, but have been disappointed, as well. BUT...I also play oboe...clarinetists don't have anything to complain about...
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