 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: fserra
Date: 2005-04-19 20:01
Hi, i´m from Chile and i´m playing a Selmer Series 9, with a Gigliotti P mouthpiece, that works fine. But i´m getting a little bit crazy with the reeds. Actually i´m playing with V12-3.5 y Lepic-3.5+, both work fine but my teacher tells me we she heard me that i´m lack of sound and probably is the reed. So i buy a box of V12-4 but they are hard reeds, not too much, but not comfortable i have to put a lot pressure to get a "good" sound.
What really it worries to me is that in the Gigliotti website the sugest for de P facing V12-4.5 and up.
Any advice, experience, history is very welcome. Thanks.
p.d. Here in Chile don´t sell Gigliotti and i bought it because my old teacher has one older and it was really a pleasure to play with that because of the easy free blowing.
Thanks a lot in advance,
Felipe.
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Author: JessKateDD
Date: 2005-04-19 20:52
Gigliotti talked to me about that some years ago. He personally played his P facing with the V-12 4.5 reeds. I am more partial to the P34 and find it works well with Blackmaster 3.5s and 4s, more so than the V-12s. Perhaps you might try a Blackmaster and see how that works with your P facing.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-04-19 21:13
The V-12 4 1/2's are almost bricks. You have to take quite a bit of wood off of them for responsive playing.
I would use #4 V-12's with it. I studied with Gigliotti for 7 years
I play the Gigliotti P and use the Grand Concert #3 1/2 thick blank. They are great with it - not too soft at all for me.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-04-19 21:31
Gigliotti mouthpieces, like nearly all (if not all) mass-produced ones, have so much item-to-item variation that it's pointless (and probably misleading) to recommend a particular reed for a particular mouthpiece brand just because it seems to work for YOU on YOUR mouthpiece. Sorry, but that would be like me trying to tell you what thickness of seat cushion to install into your car to make it comfortable for YOUR bottom.*
*now how's THAT for a crummy analogy??
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-04-19 21:58
Play what feels comfortable. I also have two gigliotti P mouthpieces (one of the newer vintage, and one of the older vintage which is on an Otto Link blank) I started out with 3.5. As it stands now, I am playing a Greg Smith 1* as my primary mouthpiece with 4.5 V12, and the 4.5 feels too soft for those gigliottis.
So just play what feels comfortable. Try getting a little into reed adjusting if you aren't already. Take those 4's, and whittle them down a bit.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: fserra
Date: 2005-04-19 22:06
What is : whittle them down a bit? mi english is not good!.
Thanks!
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-04-19 22:57
David S, you have to start somewhere..........
The poster was asking if 4 1/2 were possibly too hard and I agreed.
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Author: John Scorgie
Date: 2005-04-20 00:41
fserra --
"whittle down" means cut down (with a knife). Or you could use sandpaper to sand the #4 reeds a bit so that they would be softer, like a 3 1/2 or a 3. Hope this helps.
David S -- re your seat cushion analogy:
I don't mean to criticize your own personal style of playing, but FYI most of us play the clarinet from the opposite end.
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Author: DezzaG
Date: 2005-04-20 02:19
what size did gigliotti play? was it 4.5?
When I used these mouthpieces I started on 5's but moved down to 4.5 as I was biting too much. In my opinon they take very heavy reeds(more so than a Vandoren 5RV) there is no way I could play V12 size 4 reeds on mine(as a note I use a Grabner mouthpiece with Gonzalez size 3.5, so I am not biased on the use of heavy reeds)
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Author: msloss
Date: 2005-04-20 02:52
Gigliotti could play a popsicle stick and make it sound good. I came to a lesson with reeds that played like crap. He broke out a piece of acrylic and some reed rush and made every single one play fine. He opened boxes of 4's and 4 1/2's and did fine with both. It ain't the # on the back of the reed. It is your facility with a knife or rush that increases your batting average of playable ones. Some people prefer the density of the higher numbers like me and cut them down to play. Others like the lighter reeds out of the box. Neither has anything to do at all with the mouthpiece and everything to do with you as a player.
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Author: DezzaG
Date: 2005-04-20 03:00
But some people do play 4.5 out of the box. It does have to do with the mouthpiece, as I couldn't play those 4.5 on my grabner.
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Author: DezzaG
Date: 2005-04-20 03:09
There you go, exactly what I thought the right size for a Gigliotti P. I also have used the P34 and think this works best with V12 size 4. Obviously some people would use harder or softer, but I am talking averages. So to answer fserra's original question, go with what your teacher says as it is probably the case that you are on too soft of reeds.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-04-20 03:31
Mark S wrote . . .Quote:
Gigliotti could play a popsicle stick and make it sound good. The clarinet professor at my current college plays a Gigliotti P mouthpiece. He uses a size 5 V12 reed, and clips the tip a bit to make it a little harder. Sometimes I wonder why he just doesn't simplify the process and take the aforementioned popsicle stick and strap it to his mouthpiece. Or maybe a two by four might be more appropriate . . .
US Army Japan Band
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-04-20 03:37
It has a lot to do with the pressure of the mouth also. If you are playing with a great deal of pressure than you would use a harder reed than somebody playing with less.
What is pretty much a guarantee with a harder reed is that the altissimo notes will speak easier.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-04-20 03:41
Quote:
What is pretty much a guarantee with a harder reed is that the altissimo notes will speak easier. I think that it's really the mouthpiece rather than reed that denotes whether an altissimo note will speak or not. However I definitely DO notice that the hardness of the reed tells me what control I'll get with the altissimo. Right now I'm breaking in some #5 vandoren V12s and I have a lot more control on how soft or loud I can play those altissimos (a lot moreso than the 4.5s that I also have, that are already broken in).
So I'll be playing around with the fives and seeing if I want to stick with them.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-04-20 04:05
No, it's the player which determines success with the high notes. The mouthpiece makes it easier as well as the reed strength.
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Author: fserra
Date: 2005-04-20 14:04
Thanks to all!!!!, many opinions... but i think i will try to "get down" a little bit my V12-4 with my "Vandoren Glass Reed Resurfacer", because i don´t know how to cut a reed, a either i don´t know how to use a knife... I think that most of People here don´t work with their reeds, just put them out of the box, try them and if it works OK, if not to the trash. But i think that there must be a way to help this reeds to work, that´s the reason i bought de Glass Reed Resurfacer....
Any one can tell me if there is a link where we can learn about adjusting a reed.... This means usign the knife and all that stuff...
Another thing i think that when you cut a reed with a reed cutter the reed becomes hard is this true or i'm wrong?....
Thanks A LOT FOR ALL!!!!
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Author: fserra
Date: 2005-04-20 14:08
Another thing do we need a knife if i got the glass reed?...
And of the discussion about altissimo register with the harder reed, in my experience (which is not too much), i feel that the harder reeds get more control of the sound in all the registers and the sound seems to be more equal in all the registers..
Again... Thanks.!
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-04-20 14:38
Fserra, I suggest getting the Ridenour ATG reed system which is around $60 and is worth every penny. Comes with a very good DVD and the tool which you can adjust your reeds very, very easily and accurately.
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