 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: vjoet
Date: 2008-05-24 19:37
Hi,
On the index page of woodwind.org I was an ad for a new systhetic reed from Japan: Forestone.
Here's a link that bypasses the flash introduction:
<www.forestone-japan.com/eg/history.html>
The write-up sounds interesting, but anyone can say nice things about themselves. Has anyone tried them? The seem a bit pricey, at $30 each, and appear to come in just 3 strenghts.
I've tried Legere in the past, but don't get the degree of warmth with them as I do with a good cane reed.
I think they chose a regrettable name for the reed, Forestone. In typing this out, I had to be care at the end of the word not to type "kin"
Vann Joe
(amateur)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-05-24 19:57
I was wondering about the name just the other day - is it pronounced 'Forest-Tone' or 'Fore-Stone'?
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2008-05-24 19:58)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-05-24 23:29
Or made from old forests?
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2008-05-25 01:02
These are made from Bamboo powder mixed with a plastic of some sort.
I tried one yesterday. It was interesting and the material has many good qualities.
Unlike some synthetic reeds these don't have much of a buzzing sound they were very nice in a lot of ways. It was labeled as a "3" but it was a bit on the hard side and I think that adjusting the vamp a bit would yield better results.
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Author: Dan1937
Date: 2008-05-25 10:55
Some synthetics can be adjusted; does anyone know if this one can be?
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2008-05-25 11:59
If you mean- Can it be sanded or cut with clippers or a knife?
It looked fine to me. I don't see why not.
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Author: Roger Aldridge
Date: 2008-05-26 13:42
Dan1937,
In the past I used the ATG Reed Finishing System with good results on Legere reeds.
However, after I fine-tuned my match between Legere Quebec reeds and Walter Grabner's Kaspar-style mouthpieces I've no longer needed to make adjustments to my Quebec reeds. Typically, Legeres work fine for me right out of the box on Walter's facings.
Roger
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Author: Forestone
Date: 2008-06-14 13:10
Hello,
my Name is Lars and I´m working at Forestone. Please ask me any question you have toward our reed.
The pronounciation is like Fores-stone. Our product engeneer chose this name and it was chosen before a foreigner came into the company, so it was basically made for the Japanese market where this name has been accepted very well.
About the strenght. I guess that most player will prefer -3 as the other 2 kinds are a little strong. The inventer Itoku-san intended to make them harder, because the reeds in former times have been same quality, so it´s a kind of back to the roots movement combined with a new material to get rid of some disadvantages from ordinary reeds.
As we are on the market since March and the research took decades, we will increase our selection step by step.
As our most less hard reed is the most popular one, we will probably move to more softer reeds first. Also the german cut will follow soon.
Soon an article in a very big clarinet magazine will be release which more than impressed by our reed. We will release the news about that soon.
Please write me any question here or at heuseler@forestone-japan.com .
I would be very please to answer any inquiry.
Lars
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Author: Old Geezer
Date: 2008-06-14 15:40
I have purchased a Forestone reed and been trying it for 3 weeks or so.
It a -3 and it is too hard: I think for anyone. I've sanded it down, to a playable strength. It seems about the same quality as a Legere Quebec. The response is OK overall but the tone I can get is only barely acceptable in the clarion and altissimo. The throat tones and lower chalumeau are not good enough.
As synthetic reeds go, the Legere Quebec is clearly the best...but still just a sorry substitute for a good cane reed...and somewhat less that $30.00 a pop!
Forestone shows promise though...they sould work on the strengths and reduce the outlandish price. Maybe they should give a complimentary selection of them to some world class clarinetists and see what they think. They should have a booth at next year's Clarinet Fest for sure.
Clarinet Redux
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2008-06-14 16:58
I got their hardest strength and it played easily, a bit buzzy, a bit light for me.
I think the material is probably good, just needs some tweaking of the heart or central area to add some juice or color to the sound.
One positive note, it was balanced ok.
Has potential.
(My trial was on a Vandoren M13Lyre and a Behn Vintage A-model mouthpiece).
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: Forestone
Date: 2008-06-15 03:31
Thank you very much for your suggestions. I will talk to our team about your opinions. The best way to create a good product is to hear a lot of opinions.
We already had a lot of professionals playing our reed and most of them saw the great potential in Forestone reeds. However there are always player who prefer a conservative product.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Best wishes
Lars
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Author: ned
Date: 2008-06-15 05:00
''I think they chose a regrettable name for the reed, Forestone. In typing this out, I had to be care at the end of the word not to type "kin" ''
That's curious. What do you think of when (if ever) you need to use words such as, foresail, forsee, foreshadow, foreshore, foresight.............?
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2008-06-15 18:45
Ned, I did notice that upon manipulating the reed, it turned into a tenor sax reed.
Ok...that joke has whiskers.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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