 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: beejay
Date: 2000-09-03 20:08
I'm curious to know if anyone makes their own reeds, and if so, is it worth the effort?
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Author: joevacc
Date: 2000-09-05 21:55
Hi,
Yes, I make my own reeds. I think it is worth while - very much so. All of the reeds that I have made play better than most boxed reeds. They articulate better and they seem to be easier to blow. That said, they do not all sound good. In the beginning, they all sounded very bright - they did not have that "wood" tone that I try to go for. After working on how the heart of the reed was shaped, I have been able to mellow them out.
It takes a lot of time to prep a blank and to carve a reed but you will be so delighted when even your very first reed plays! I have put many posts here about reeds and it seems that very few people try to make their own reeds - as it also seems in this post. I say go for it! There is little to lose… I have also become come quite proficient in adjusting commercial reeds because of my experience making reeds.
A very generous reader of the BB has read some of my posts. He lives in northern California and has sent me some of the wild cane that grows there. I plan, after it dries awhile, to prepare some reeds from the cane and post the results here.
Homemade reeds are time consuming but they seem to last longer than commercial reeds. Awhile ago I went through four boxes of Vandoren V12’s and did not get one decent reed in any of them! That is what prompted me to start making my own. I don’t have the time to make reeds all day but I like to make one at a time and add it to my collection.
Read as many books on the subject as you can get your hands on. They all have a different approach. One bit of advice, keep a good reed close to you as you carve as a reference. After many reeds I still find that it helps a lot to have one in front of me. Have fun!!!
JV
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Author: Beejay
Date: 2000-09-06 15:48
That sounds like the encouragement I need Joevacc. I was planning to follow the advice in David Pino's book unless you can suggest something better. At least his method does not require heavy initial capital outlay. I live in France, and am not sure where to buy the reed blanks, but I'll work that out. By the way, can you tell me whether "hard" reeds are made of harder cane, or are they merely cut a bit thicker? Many thanks.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-09-06 16:06
Beejay wrote:
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I live in France, and am not sure where to buy the reed blanks, but I'll work that out.
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Check right here on Sneezy (in the Equipment section) for a long list of reed cane suppliers - in France!
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Author: joevacc
Date: 2000-09-07 01:34
Beejay,
The Pino book and "The Art of Clarinet Playing" by Keith Stein are the two books that I first started out with. As far as reed strength goes, I get a reed just playable and then work it down slowly until it just right. I’ll bet that in France you can get better cane than we can get here in the US. Let us know how it turns out… Best of luck,
-=[Joe Vacc]=-
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