 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Joseph Adams
Date: 2012-10-15 13:55
Friday 10/12/2012 Drove to Duncanville, TX to see Tom Ridenour.
I was picking up a Low C Bass and his FIRST Production Model ContraBass
We get to meet Tom, and Tom is just cool. He is all character and a good one at that.
Started off trying his ContraBass. I had tried Bobby McClellands and after comparing to a paperclip Contra, I knew I wanted one.
We put on the reed and mouthpiece and start going through the horn. MINOR adjustments are need.
First - The Reed. I can't get anything out of it, not too hard... but just can't work the tones out of it.
SO, Tom takes it and puts it in his ATG system, pointing out it was not in balance. He does magic, and it plays like a whole different reed.
SO. FIRSTHAND, his ATG works. It's not like it was staged.. IT'S LEGIT.
Those youtube videos. YEP. They are real.
www.ridenourclarinetproducts.com
(plug intended)
Joe Adams
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Author: LCL
Date: 2012-10-15 15:43
Joe,
I'm also looking at the Low C. I already have a Leblanc Low C that has been heavily modified but am thinking about a back-up horn. I have read Dave S. review and would love to hear your's when you have a chance to post it.
Thanks,
Lynn
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Author: Joseph Adams
Date: 2012-10-15 17:17
LCL wrote:
> Joe,
>
> I'm also looking at the Low C. I already have a Leblanc Low C
> that has been heavily modified but am thinking about a back-up
> horn. I have read Dave S. review and would love to hear your's
> when you have a chance to post it.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Lynn
>
First Impressions.
The horn is balanced. When playing low or high registers, the horn tends to just ' SING '
Of course it takes a getting used to the new keys, it has some nice alternates. and the thumb keys being right below the thumb rest taking getting some used to.
Initially I enjoy the horn. I found one downside.
The side trill keys, I felt the actually size of the key that you press could of been changed to rather being a double D configuration
D|D (can't flip it 180)
it could of been just D|
I find this interferes when aligning the two mid joints. so it needs to be precisely aligned. doesn't allow slop.
The rest is all go.
So first thoughts... 95% positive.
Since you are close enough. It's really worth it to make the drive and meet Tom, and play the horn.. and find out where it needs to be for you.
I can't stress this most. You can order it and it will be fine for you.
However, when it comes to sitting down and actually playing it.
You are his first line of feedback. He loves to listen. He will do his 100% best to accommodate you.
Thanks,
Joe Adams
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Author: Jim22
Date: 2012-10-16 04:28
I just ordered the ATG system. I hope I can figure it out. I've only been playing a couple months, and reeds are kind of a mystery to me. I'm looking forward to it.
Jim C.
CT, USA
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Author: Clarimeister
Date: 2012-10-16 17:09
Great investment. So easy to use, hard to mess up reeds with it, can usually just make reeds better. Only exception is it will not make an already bad reed, a great reed, but it will make reeds that are potentially good, great!
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Author: Bobby McClellan
Date: 2012-10-17 00:26
I have to agree with others the ATG is amazing. The Video and the book that comes with it is the most important part. I have used it for several years now.
If anyone is interested you should try it out. The price is great and it is actually simple to use.
Bobby M. McClellan
Flowood, MS
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Author: Jim22
Date: 2012-10-18 03:27
I received my kit today, which was very prompt. I ordered directly from the ridenour website. I felt a little bad about paying the shipping, but the shipping plus packaging surely cost more than the charge, so it was very fair. I'm starting with the booklet. Then I'll watch the DVDs. So far, I have not been successful with the playing tests. Tom's views on the requirement to balance the reeds to develop good playing habits jive very well with my very inexperienced thoughts. My teacher seems more of a mind to play what comes out of the box, but I've only had a few lessons. He may yet have more to share with me. 
Jim C.
CT, USA
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Author: gwlively
Date: 2012-10-18 21:59
I started with reeds that would hardly play just like Tom Ridenour uses in his YouTube videos. It made them playable. That gave me the confidence to use the system on good reeds, even those fresh out of a new box. Basically balancing the reed is all there is to it. I can remember books with giant blowups of reed vamps with various numbered areas. The player was supposed to test the reed, then scrape it with a reed knife, sandpaper, or reed rush in the various numbered areas. That was too hard for me, but this system is very easy to understand. It's nothing for me to open a fresh box of reeds and be able to not just get by, but to have every one of them play wonderfully. It makes me feel good and it is economical.
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Author: DAVE
Date: 2012-10-19 01:25
I have the ATG and really like it. Question for those of you with newer ones. What are the two strengths of sandpaper that come with it? Mine wore out long ago and I don't know what to buy to replenish it.
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Author: Jim22
Date: 2012-10-19 02:34
The kit I just received came with 4 pieces of sandpaper. One is marked 400 grit and they seem to all be the same.
I watched the DVDs tonight. I will try a few reeds this weekend.
It seems to me there are a myriad of "ways to prepare and deal with reeds". Everybodies "way" is the only acceptable "way". I suspect most of it is not all that important. So far I tend to agree with a great deal of what Tom teaches about reeds, and have "fixed" or adjusted several hopeless reeds using techniques gleaned from his YouTube videos.
Here's a theory for discussion: Don't try to rotate too many reeds. It makes it hard to be familiar with each Reed from session to session and recognize when it needs to be replaced. Each Reed requires the player to adapt differently.
Jim C.
CT, USA
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Author: A Brady
Date: 2012-10-19 19:45
I was an "early adopter" of the ATG and have been using it successfully for 8 or so years. Tom really does have an intuitive logic on these matters, and the simplicity of the approach, combined with careful practice of the testing procedure, can yield excellent results.
A couple of things I have learned over the years with this tool: I always test left and right balance with a very gentle airstream, and with a double lip embouchure as recommended; I find this leads to much more accurate discernment of the balance of a reed. I also wait a few days before starting adjustments on new reeds, simply playing them a bit and rubbing them to allow them to settle a little before changes are made. When I do adjustments these days, I will generally take a very conservative approach, doing only only one swipe at a time for left/right balancing, and tip finishing in a careful manner, leaving additional adjustments for the following days, and using the heavier or lighter abrasive judiciously. I have several sanding blocks and plates available, and change the sandpaper frequently, although water can clear the reed residue for a short period of time. These techniques, combined with careful flattening of the back (if needed) are working very well for me on a variety of commercial reeds, in addition to homemade reeds from the Uhl profiler.
I used to visit Tom"s shop near Orlando some years ago, and played on his custom reeds for a while. He is a wonderful source of info for all things clarinet.
AB
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Author: Jim22
Date: 2012-10-20 00:57
And the verdict is.... the ATG system is BRILLIANT!
Ok, maybe an exaggeration and I may not really be qualified to make that statement, but I did successfully adjust 3 out of 3 reeds.
I play on a Yamaha 4C mouthpiece, and my teacher has me trying to play Vandoren standard 2.5 strength reeds. I had previously opened 5 of the 10 in a new box. The teacher instructed me to wet them for 30 seconds, polish the backs on the paper side of some wet/dry sandpaper, and just smooth the center of the lower vamp area with the grit side very lightly. Also, polish the tip lightly with the back side of the paper. Then let them dry flat side up. The next day I played them and found 2 to play reasonably well. A third was a bit harder but almost ok. The fourth played, but was too hard to do anything useful with, and the fifth was almost a complete dud, making hardly any vibrations at all. Tonight I improved all three of the bad ones to the point that all are very playable if just a touch on the hard side. One of the three may be now a little obstinate about playing high F and above, but I am not very good at voicing these notes yet. I would say, at $2.50 a reed, I'm up $7.50 so far using the system
I have adjusted reeds like this before, but having the booklet and DVDs gave me the confidence to work the reeds without feeling that I would ruin them. I will admit to being much less aggressive than the video shows. I made very few passes on the sides of the reeds and tried to do the minimum to the tips. None of the reeds got wonky on me this time.
I am also mostly a failure at detecting any imbalance in the reeds. I imagined an imbalance on one of the three and made an extra couple passes on what I thought was the heavy side. Then I couldn't imagine it any more, so maybe it worked.
I am very much a reed neurotic, and I am really happy that I was literally able to "dial in" these reeds to be all very similar and pretty much where I thought I wanted them as far as embouchure strength required to get the airy sound out of the tone. Much more consistent than the reeds I have just been playing out of the box.
To me, it's very much "all about the reed". Too soft and the high notes wont come out for me. Too hard and I have to work so hard to play that it just takes the music right out of it. Both conditions seem to lead directly to a tendency to BITE. Tonight, I had at least three really good, consistent reeds!
Jim
Jim C.
CT, USA
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Author: Pwrmaestro
Date: 2012-10-22 17:07
Would anyone want to compare the ATG system to Ben Armato's Reed Wizard in terms of effective balancing?
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2012-10-22 17:49
My one problem with ATG is that, because it starts at the tip, it's too easy to make the tip too thin before things have gotten straightened out in the area beyond it. Also, it scrapes/scrubs over a very wide area, which makes it hard to do anything too surgical if you find a dense area in the grain that you want to thin a little. I like it for some types of balance problems, especially if the problem clearly extends into the tip.
Reed Wizard also is effective for some types of balance problems. If you site down the reed after you use the Wizard on it, you can see that it actually scrapes along a very narrow track for each position on the tool's table and that most of the vamp is untouched. The good thing about it from my perspective is that it doesn't take anything out of the tips of most commercial reeds - most are already cut thin enough. That said, if there *is* a balance problem in the tip itself, I doubt from experience with it that Reed Wizard is going to touch it.
So, they're good for different things, IMO. I use both as well as rush and occasionally a knife, depending on where the problem is.
Karl
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Author: CarlT
Date: 2012-10-23 21:04
I agree with Karl on the ATG. I ruined several reeds by getting the tips too thin. Perhaps I didn't do it correctly, but it is easy to ruin one the way I did it. I have since ordered a knife, but I've yet to use it. I hope to use it soon, and further I hope to become better at it than I am with ATG.
CarlT
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