 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Mysterious
Date: 2000-09-19 18:18
What is the best brand of reeds? And what are the characteristics of a "good" reed?
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-09-19 19:14
There is no one best brand of reeds. My personal favorites are regular Vandorens and Mitchell Luries.
For characteristics, the only true test is in the playing of them, how they feel, respond, and sound. Although there are some "guidelines" on what a reed should look like, these are not infallible. I've had many reeds that violated such guidelines and played beautifully while some that looked perfect were not particularly great playing reeds. Plus to really evaluate a reed, you need to break it in before making a decision on it.
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Author: Bob Gardner
Date: 2000-09-19 20:24
My vote would go for the LaGere. i have been using one for a month or so. it is ready to go. It sounds good to me, and i think that it will last a long time. One other positive is that i don't have to ditch half the box or adjust them. On the down side they cost 12 to 15 bucks each and they are hard to get. They have been on b/o for over a month at one of our non-sponcers.
i will not speak the name until they sign up.
bob
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Author: Bill
Date: 2000-09-19 20:56
It's a synthetic reed. Do you mean it's ready to go day one, or after using it for one month it's ready to go??
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2000-09-20 01:28
My opinion of good reeds:
1. Good cane
1)Var region cane
2)Dense density:pore should not be too big. This can be obsereved at the heel or be checked by sucking it from the heel(if too easily air comes into it, it means cane's pore is too coarse).
3)Inside texture:This can be checked by looking it through light. The vibrated part should be bright and the heart should be dark and the color change should be even. Dark lines should not be appear although it develops as time elapses sucking saliva.
4)Cane's natural straightness: I read in a magazine that a German clarinet professor's case to confirm this characteristics. Obtaining reed he wet it and place it on a flat glass and wait one whole year! He discard all reeds which warped during this period.
5)Drying up period: It is not necessarily 'the longer,the better'. It seems manufacturers' proprietary knowledge.
2.design
1)French cut seems better than American cut in its vibration consistency.
2)Reed heel thickness: Guy Danguin writes in his book published in Japan that the heel thickness of larger than 3 mm gives more projection. These reeds are:
V12,Alexander classic,Zonda,Rico Grand Concert-Thick Blank,Marca Traditional. I think these reeds give darker tone and suitable for Brahms or Schuman than thinner heel reeds.
3)tip symmetry: I prefer symmetry design. However some of the reeds are unsymmetrically designed provably to compensate the rotation force by right hand thumb such as Vandoren.
4)tip thickness: tip thickness is becoming thicker and thicker. A Japanese clarinetist measured his Vnadoren reeds these 25 years by micro-meter and found that. Thick tip means that the sound comes out suddenly and very difficult to start in ppp.
3.Stability of the vibration center
This is between tip and heart. We Japanese name this 'west' such as 'This reed has a good west'. Do you know what I mean?
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2000-09-20 01:30
I meant 'waist' not west. Sorry for my pidgin English.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-09-20 02:18
Hiroshi wrote:
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My opinion of good reeds:
1)French cut seems better than American cut in its vibration consistency.
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What exactly is "American cut"? I don't think I've heard this reference before, or maybe I'm using a different term. There's German style reeds for German mouthpieces, and French style reeds for French style mouthpieces (the window, lay, etc. are very different between the two styles of mouthpieces) but I don't exactly know what an "American cut" reed would be.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2000-09-20 03:51
The difference of boader lines between scraped part and unscraped part(stock). Frenc cut reed stock part peel is cut straight as in Vandoren,Grand Concert,and Marca, whereas American cut has no straigth line such as in Zonda,or Vandoren Java.(This might be a Japanglish.)
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Author: Meri
Date: 2000-09-20 17:19
Personally I am now finding that my best reeds have two characteristics:
1. Thickness at the bottom of the reed, and
2. The cut portion is well-balanced (little or no asymmetry--if there is a little, I'll correct it)
*But* these are my personal general guidelines. I've had reeds that violate these rules that have been quite good (but usually those that violate the first rule, more rarely the second, and almost never both), and others (albeit very few) that don't play well in spite of having both these principles, and then I'll give it a chance to age further.
Meri
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Author: bob gardner
Date: 2000-09-23 22:02
Sorry i have taken so long to get to you on this post. My legere reed was ready to go from the first day. I have been using the same reed for over a month and it is still great. I have another on order because a few people on this board suggested the idea of rotation.
Take care
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Author: beejay
Date: 2000-09-28 01:37
Here in France, I play on Glotin reeds. I find them quite consistent.
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