 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: earl thomas
Date: 1999-12-22 02:49
Has anyone heard of a source for these great reeds that seemed to have vanished when the manufacturer passed away?
A few of us probably still have a couple of dozen of them stashed away. I believe their thick heels were the catalyst that got Vandoren into producing the V12, but I could be mistaken. I also heard that while their label read "Paris", one could not find them there. I had to order mine first from Vienna and then from the distributer in Pennsylvania.
They are/were great reeds. ET
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-12-22 02:59
Morre died a while back. I hear that the Alexander Superial are the closest thing to the Morre reeds commercially available.
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Author: Accomps
Date: 1999-12-22 03:17
I got a box of Morrees from Alexander. He is in Japan.
Mark Charette wrote:
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Morre died a while back. I hear that the Alexander Superial are the closest thing to the Morre reeds commercially available.
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Author: Daniel (the original)
Date: 1999-12-22 04:45
Marks Music still sells them.. But be prepared to pay about $35 per box. I bought a box from them last year just before they up'ed the price. I also bought a box from Alexander back when he was putting them on eBay. The cut on the box from him and the box from Marks varied quite a significantly. As well as some of the stamps on the two boxes. Makes me wonder if the reeds Marks is selling are truely Morré reeds or replicas. >shrug<
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Author: Accomps
Date: 1999-12-22 13:35
I'll sell ya some Morreh
Daniel (the original) wrote:
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Marks Music still sells them.. But be prepared to pay about $35 per box. I bought a box from them last year just before they up'ed the price. I also bought a box from Alexander back when he was putting them on eBay. The cut on the box from him and the box from Marks varied quite a significantly. As well as some of the stamps on the two boxes. Makes me wonder if the reeds Marks is selling are truely Morré reeds or replicas. >shrug<
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Author: earl thomas
Date: 1999-12-22 15:16
Many thanks to you who wrote re Morre reeds. Since I knew the original owner of Marks Music (Carl Marks), I would not be surprised if he had not stockpiled a ton of Morre reeds before he passed away. He was a great guy with whom I traded theory information at Juilliard in 1946/47! I do hope (and assume) that Marks Music's stock of Morre reeds is legit. A bien tot! ET
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Author: Accomps
Date: 1999-12-22 16:55
I would assume so that they are. Very possible that Morre had different boxes for various years. Think about how many changes Vandoren boxes have gone through.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-12-24 03:31
Greg Smith once wrote following:
p.s. I use a Alexander Classic. See his description.
<A HREF=http://www.superial.com/classiquee.html>Alexander Superial Classique</A>
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: earl thomas
Date: 1999-12-25 16:22
Thank you Hiroshi for posting the Greg Smith information on Morre Reeds. Very enlightening! Sincerely, E.Thomas
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Author: Wesley Foster
Date: 1999-12-29 01:03
I have 52 boxes of Morre reeds, German cut 12.5, 2+1/4 strength purchased from Marks Sr. and dated by him various months of 1976. Anyone interested in purchasing same?
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