 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Noverbuf
Date: 2009-02-24 07:28
Could you please explain me what is wrong with the Olivieri reeds, new old stock (plastic box) that you can currently buy on eBay $5 for a pack of 10?
I bought a few packs in hope I got a good deal but their playability seems to correspond to their price.
Is there a way to correct them? I understand if it's the quality of the cane itself in which case they cannot be improved then there must be some ways to work on them scraping here and there to get them working better.
I showed these reeds to my instructor who is a professional clarinettist and he tried three out of ten randomly. He then told me they are not complete junk and are good enough for practicing.
Well, it's him, he can play on anything with any set-up and still sound good. To me he sounded on these Olivieri's as good as on his Vandorens.
I understand him when he tells me that he cannot generally help people with evaluating equipment as he can adjust quickly to anything and can sound perfectly on a complete junker horn other people couldn't get a note out from.
One comment he made however regarding these reeds was they weren't as springy as a better quality Vandorens.
When I pick up these reeds I go from a decent sound on Vandorens to almost unplayable with these Olivieri's.
If anyone here found a way to improve them could you please post here description of your process.
Post Edited (2009-02-24 09:01)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2009-02-24 12:54
In the 70's and early 80's Olivieris were one of the more popular brands, and were played (and endorsed) by many players. The tempered and untempered versions both had their devotees, even though many now suspect that there was no difference between the two types.
Suddenly, in the early 80's the reeds took a nose dive. Miscuts were rampant, cane quality was very suspect, and the packaging was horrendous. In short, they became a mere shadow of themselves, and players abandoned them in droves. The reeds had a pronounced tendency to squeak due to the uneven thickness of the thin tip, and their useful life (of the few good ones) was quite short.
...GBK
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2009-02-24 14:15
I have about a zillion yellow plastic boxes of New Old Stock (NOS) Olivieri reeds (mostly for Bb clarinet) -- I like them and use them regularly. Given what GBK wrote above (all quite true), there are many which I simply can't get to work, but most of them are usable. Generally they're cut with a short, thin tip area and a nice thick heart which unfortunately extends a bit too high up towards the tip, so my solution is to scrape the reeds in an inverted "U" shape (per Kal Opperman's classic book) to make the overall tip region a bit longer. This makes the reeds less shrill and "brittle" sounding and can reduce their tendency to squeak if done right.
As long as you are adept at adjusting reeds with the knife, the old Olivieris can be a very good starting point, and of course are dirt-cheap when procured from sources on That Infernal Internet Auction Site Whose Name Shall Not Be Mentioned (TIIASWNSNBM).
I got a chuckle from GBK's observation about the tempered vs. untempered varieties -- I played on these reeds a lot back in the 70s and never could tell the difference either! I would just buy whichever was available.
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2009-02-24 22:43
I don't know that much about the company, but I also used them back in the late 70s and early 80s. They were a very fine reed.
I can relate a story, and perhaps someone can fill in more details about the Olivieri company. I knew someone who was a very accomplished clarinetist who loved these reeds. He was on a trip to Europe (about 1980), and he visited the Olivieri factory in Spain. He showed me a picture of himself with an old man who was about 80 years old; perhaps it was Victor, or perhaps it was his son Charles, I don't know. My friend was concerned about what would happen to the quality of Olivieri reeds after the old man died. I'm not sure what happened to him, but from what my friend told me, the quality now just isn't the same. He's switched to Vandoren V-12s.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-02-25 03:20
I believe the old Olivieri's were not only made in Spain but used cane grown in Spain, I used them years ago too and even bought his cane when I began making my own reeds using an Olivieri as my model as well. Once he moved his production to the USA everything changed. When I did use them I found the tempered actually lasted me longer than the non tempered, maybe it was my imagination. I loved the plastic box anyway. In any case no matter what brand you use you have to learn to balance them and adjust them to your particular liking. That comes with experimenting to see what works best for you. Taking off a little here, a little there etc. Of course if the cane sucks it won't matter.
While it's true that a professional can make anything sound better than a novice it doesn't mean they feel comfortable playing on it. If they did they won't go crazy tying to find the "perfect" reed for their next performance, take it from one who knows. I can sound pretty good on nearly anything but I think I sound like crap, can I say that here, and I certainly don't feel good so I won't use most anything for a performance or even a rehearsal. ESP www.peabody.jhu.edu/457
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Author: Bubalooy
Date: 2009-02-25 07:35
It is my understanding that the reeds now called Vic Olivieri have no real connection with the co. that produced the reeds in Spain, very fine reed that I loved in the 80s. I am not certain of this but I believe a fire at the co. in Spain caused a nose dive in quality. The name Vic Olivieri was purchased and reeds of this name are now produced in the USA. I have purchased several boxes of the new reeds and I find them to be very good. The history of the company and the brand are given, or at least were given some time ago, on the Vic Olivieri web site. You may wish to read it as I may not recall everything correctly. I'm guessing that the reeds that are referred to in the original post here are post fire but still in Spain Olivieri.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2009-02-25 07:45
>> I believe the old Olivieri's were not only made in Spain but used cane grown in Spain <<
The cane in Spain grows mainly in the... well.... wherever it is they grow it 
Post Edited (2009-02-25 07:46)
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2009-02-25 12:48
Muncy now makes Olivieri reeds - not sure where they get their cane from now but the main cane growing area in Spain is on and around the Costa del Sol region in Southern Spain.
L. Omar Henderson
www.doctorsprod.com
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Author: Noverbuf
Date: 2009-03-02 08:21
I would also appreciate if you commented on the following observations I made over the last week testing these reeds.
After breaking in all 10 reeds (playing them for 5 minutes) for 4-5 days I expected them to stabilize and become what they actually were.
After that break-in period they behave strangely: I can play on any of 10 reeds for about 10 minutes and they sound decent. After around 10 minutes, some less, some more they all loose resilience(?) and become unplayable.
At first I thought it was me, the unexperienced player but then I realized it were reeds because I could play my good Vandoren reed well in between these trials.
My instructor told me this time when I asked him about this strange reed behaviour that probably because of the large fibers on these reeds they would require longer break in period and until then they will work this way. Does it make sense?
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Author: kdk
Date: 2009-03-02 13:27
They're probably soaking up water and eventually the tips are getting waterlogged. That's part of what any break-in process hopes to stop from happening by closing off the ends of the pores that are exposed to saliva and condensation so they don't soak up so much. It may just take more break-in time. You'll have to experiment a little more with them to see how this problem works itself out.
Karl
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2009-03-02 13:48
Don't panic, Olivieri reeds do seem to require a longer break-in period than some other brands -- just stick with them and they'll come around.
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Author: Bill
Date: 2009-03-04 02:28
Old plastic container (not cardboard box) always seemed to me to be EXCELLENT cane but could not get them to play on any of my mouthpieces without frequent chirp. Sold all I had.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
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Author: Noverbuf
Date: 2009-03-04 06:14
I found another thing! In fact this is something that made these Olivieri's playable beyond the 10 minutes barrier. I admit it would take me much longer to figure out this problem without the help of my teacher. He gave me a hint which I at first didn't pay much attention to but when I recalled it everything bacame clear.
So here is the hack. The reeds got deformed after 4 or 5 days of break-in period in such a way that the work surface became convex. After 10 minutes of playing reeds took enough water to swell even more in the center and the sides raised from the MP. They leaked like crazy I guess and that made them unplayable.
I scraped each of them on the bottom with a flat sharp knife to make them flat again and... each of them now can play for as long as I wish! They all work, some better then others but there are no duds in the box.
I never had such problems with Vandoren and wouldn't know this problem could exist.
By the way, I'm sure I read couple times before that people use sandpaper to flatten the bottom of reeds but again I never payed attention to those posts. Is scraping with the sharp knife also a valid flattening technique?
I don't know what further suprises these reeds have prepared for me but for now the problem is solved.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2009-03-04 13:02
You've discovered what I've been preaching for years on this forum -- that especially with reeds for the larger instruments (which tend to warp 'convexly" on the bottom), one should purchase such reeds about a half-strength harder than the desired final playing strength, to allow for scraping of the bottom during the break-in process. I only use a reed knife for this, no sandpaper. You've got it right!
Post Edited (2009-03-04 13:46)
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Author: Abkol
Date: 2009-03-28 19:43
Hi.
These are working for me (this week) if you happen to have any 3 or 31/2 I'd be happy to tale them off your hands .
Thanks
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Author: Wes
Date: 2009-03-29 07:09
When they moved the Oliveri company to the USA, perhaps in the 70s, Mr. Oliveri made phone calls to his old customers to sell them on using the reeds. He called me as I had used a lot of his clarinet and saxophone reeds, but I didn't know what to say to him as I had given up on them by that time. It was embarassing partly because I really didn't know how good they were at that time and also because I had firmly switched back to Vandoren.
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Author: indiana
Date: 2009-05-06 05:58
Wow, one of my favorite subjects! The Olivieri reed.
The Olivieri reeds were excellent around the early 1980s. My friends and I used them along with the infamous Moree German cuts when
we could not get a good Vandoren. Now remember those were the reeds in the cardboard box.
Then all of a sudden the reeds seemed to change. Rumor was this: a diehard Olivieri user called the factory to inquire about the poor quality of the latest reeds. The person on the phone representing Olivieri explained that a new worker had bumped a machine and messed up the settings but was too embarrassed to tell the foreman. Then the diehard Olivieri fan said something like, "Oh great, we'll be getting good reeds again." To that the Olivieri person said, "Not so soon, because we have to sell all the bad reeds first."
Well, at least that's the story I heard!
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Author: dgclarinet
Date: 2009-05-06 17:17
I played Olivieri untempered in the late 70s/early 80s with a lot of success. They fit the mouthpiece I was playing on at the time really well. Maybe it was just me, but I could never get the plastic boxed tempered reeds to do anything. They played like the ones others have mentioned...quick to squeak, lasted about 4 days, generally bad. When they quit selling the untempered, my time with them was over. Or..maybe I just liked the cardboard box...who knows.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2009-05-09 19:19
I also used Olivieri in 1970's. Very fine looking.
I bought them again in 1990's. Ugly. It was like seeing a beautiful girl changing into a witch.
Look at one of them the sun on the back. There are many dark lines, that means the manufacturer did not dry them up long enough. (This is the easiest way to judge whether a reed is passable or not.)
Old Olivieri did not show those dirty lines. Their surfaces were more beautiful than those of any now-available reeds.
But these things are happening to Vandoren too, although it is not so bad as Olivieri.
Forget (i.e. burn them as fuel or make toothpicks) Olivieri, buy Rigotti. That is my suggestion.
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