 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-11-19 01:56
Out of boredom, my supplemental "election day" pay I get for working on election day, and out of curiousity after 'reeding' Sherman Friedland's articles on reeds (bad pun, I know), I bought a box of size 4 Vandoren White Master reeds and decided to give them a whirl (have opened and played four reeds so far)
Size is noticeably narrower (width-wise) than the gonzalez RC reeds I have, and it is slightly thicker (blank-wise) at it's butt than those. (I don't have an open box of V12s so I can't compare to them). The cuts on them are very symmetrical, and a very nice half-circle about the same distance away from the tip as the Gonzalez RC reeds. The actual length of the reed from tip to butt is slightly shorter (about a quarter inch) so my ligature ends up pretty close to the end (Rovner Dark).
As to how they play, the four that I tried were VERY close in strenght to one another (so far a box of "4's" has given me four "4's" and nothing noticeable softer/harder), and the balancing from left to right (as tested by the side to side test described in Ridenour's ATG system booklet) is spot on with one another. Very little to NO balancing required on these reeds that I have. For my current mouthpiece, it seems that the fours seem to be a little too hard (which seems correct since I use 3.75 Gonzalez RC reeds) and so next week I'm going to sacrifice some coffees and try out a box of size 3.5.
You do have to be careful side to side while putting it on your mouthpiece, and making sure that it reaches both rails, but on the various mouthpieces I tried it with (gigliotti P on the new blank, Greg Smith 1*, Grabner Kaspar, Ted Lane Kaspar, Gigliotti on an otto link blank, Pomarico Ruby, and my Dan Johnston), it DID perform well enough, although it seemed a little hard for most of those mouthpieces (the exclusions were the gigliottis where they actually played pretty well).
So due to the consistency so far and the promise of what could be a pretty nice sound, I think I'll try out the 3.5's and report back.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: RodRubber
Date: 2005-11-19 05:32
The Gigliotti's likely have the longest facings of the pieces you mentioned. White Master reeds are intended for very long facing mouthpieces. Because they are designed for this type of mouthpiece facing, which also has an extremely close tip opening, the tip is much kess vibrant, and probably is not really vibrating properly on most of the mouthpieces. Try blackmasters, they work better on typical american mouthpieces.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2005-11-19 12:54
I used to use white and black masters on my old Selmer table A mouthpiece as this was very narrow and with a close tip opening, so the German style reeds were a better fit than standard French style reeds that overlap the side rails.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-11-25 16:42
I've been looking for the black masters but they seem to be out of stock in the few stores I've looked at so far . . .
US Army Japan Band
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Author: frank
Date: 2005-11-25 16:51
White Master reeds are usually used for Eb clarinet. I would say that for most Bb mouthpieces, they are too narrow. This can create a brightness/sealing issue if the facing is wide. Very little reed will reach the rails of the mouthpiece. Black Master reeds are a bit bigger and and may be better suited to a Bb mouthpiece.
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2005-11-25 21:41
frank wrote: "White Master reeds are usually used for Eb clarinet. I would say that for most Bb mouthpieces, they are too narrow"
Really?? They fit perfectly on all the German Bb mouthpieces that I've played them on.
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Author: Tony Beck
Date: 2005-11-27 02:12
I ordered a box of 3s a month or so ago, for my Eb, but have been trying them on the Bb and A also. They play well on the Eb, especially with a David Spegelthal refaced mouthpiece. They seem softer than 3s ought to be, which is odd for Vandorens.
This particular Eb had weak, uncentered throat tones. The White Masters, a taper bored barrel and new mouthpiece pretty much cleared that up. (It took all three.)
These reeds are too narrow for the Vandoren Bb/A mouthpieces we have in the US. On my M-15 and my daughter's B-45 they do not close the rails properly, even when perfectly centered. The problem is easy to hear!
A qualification on the above. I'm a returning player, having played clarinet and bass clarinet in bands since 4th grade, then band and orchestra in college. After 15+ years off I started again when my daughter joined the clarinet section of her school band, about a year and a half ago. I'm now a community band geek and enjoying every minute of it. (Check us out at www.charlestoncommunityband.org)
I've been lurking here for months. Thanks to everyone for easing my return to making music.
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Author: thomas.b
Date: 2005-11-27 12:08
i think they work best on german facings. I use them both for my Oehler and my Boehm clarinet. I use for both German facings (Viotto G3).
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2005-11-27 12:37
I used to use both White and Black Masters on Eb, but had to chop a bit off the heel as they were too long.
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Author: frank
Date: 2005-11-27 22:01
White Master reeds are made for a German/Austrian mouthpiece. I thought that was known. It says it right on the box!  With that said, the Whites are about the same size as a Eb FRENCH MOUTHPIECE reed.
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