 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2015-11-11 07:06
I recently received a box of Gonzalez GD 3.5 soprano clarinet reeds from a retailer whom I won't name (yet), dropping down in strength from a harder 3.75 to compensate for the greater resistance of my A clarinet.
The box indicates that they are from the 2007 harvest, and each reed is marked 3.5.
Imagine my surprise when not a single one of them came close to being a 3.5, but were consistently what I'd estimate to be 5s or stiffer! Real 2X4s, and nearly unplayable on my setup!
The retailer phoned Conn-Selmer, the distributor. Their response, in a nutshell, was that each individual person has a different idea of how a given numbered reed strength should play...so stuff it!
I've been playing for over 50 years, some of it professionally, much of it semi-professionally, and I've used GD reeds to great advantage for several years now. Twice in those five decades I've come across boxes of reeds that were clearly mislabeled. It happens!
Both times, the retailer exchanged them for the "correct" strength without questioning whether I knew what I was talking about, yet in this case Conn-Selmer refused an exchange, pointing the finger at me as the problem rather than the possibility (though small) that something had gone wrong at Argendonax.
So I'm out forty bucks, Argendonax is out a customer because of Conn-Selmer's rather flippant response to a customer's problem, and Rico will be selling some more Reserve reeds in the future.
Seems to me, also, that the retailer could have made the exchange to keep a customer, but as we all know, the bottom line is all that counts.
Anyone have plans for a VERY small bird feeder? (I'd rather not use them as expensive kindling in my stove.)
B.
Post Edited (2015-11-12 07:12)
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2015-11-11 07:33
I have also recently had Gonzalez GD cut reeds noticeably off the mark.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: GBK
Date: 2015-11-11 08:13
As one who has used Gonzalez reeds from the onset when they were first distributed in the U.S. by Phil Shapiro (Davie Cane) I can attest that the latest reeds (at least over the last 5 years) are MUCH harder in strength than the original brown and black boxes (1998 harvest) that we all started with
Not sure why that has happened, or why the cut of the reeds was slightly changed, but for me, it was not for the better.
Your assessment is correct - they are now at least a full strength harder than the original reeds which I originally fell in love with.
...GBK
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2015-11-11 18:23
Have you tried shaving the reeds down? I'm an anateur, but fwiw, I deliberately bought a package of 2x4s, oops, I mean no. 4s (not Gonzales) once, just to try them out. Blowing like the Big Bad Wolf to get a tone out of those planks didn't suit me at all, so I tried sanding the backs to thin them down. I'm not all that good at modifying reeds, but the cheap fix worked well enough for me to use up the better reeds in the package.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: knotty
Date: 2015-11-11 19:14
Very interesting! I posted earlier "working on reeds". I was prompted to post this because I just got a box of GONZALEZ reeds and out of three, one so far, is a full strength harder.
~ Musical Progress: None ~
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2015-11-11 20:43
Lelia,
In a word, "no," I haven't tried to decrease their strength by shaving them down, ESPECIALLY by sanding the backs, which I will never do to any reed, good or bad, anyway.
As far as working on the vamp, reed strength is as much a function of the characteristics of the cane itself as it is the geometry of the reed. Trying to compensate for the characteristics of the cane by changing reed geometry is like <insert a clever simile here because I just got up and I'm too groggy to think of one>.
Cheers.
B.
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Author: argendonax.us
Date: 2015-11-11 21:21
Hello,
We are official distributors of Gonzalez reeds, located in NY.
This is definitely a fluke. We are very sorry to hear about the way Selmer and retailer handled this situation. That is totally unacceptable.
We'll be happy to send you a replacement box/boxes if you provide us with your mailing address.
Thank you for using Gonzalez for so many years, and we are sorry you had to go through that bad experience.
Kind regards,
Edino
Edino Biaggi
Sales Director
www.argendonax.us
argendonax@hotmail.com
347-709-5929
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2015-11-11 21:59
I just received an e-mail from Edino at Argendonax.
In addition to providing a replacement, they are also taking steps (which I won't relate here) to help ensure that this "it's your fault" thing won't happen again.
Thank you, Edino!
P.S. I got D'Addario mixed up with Argendonax in my previous messages. Yet another senior lapse. D'Addario is the former Rico, not Gonzalez. I'll be editing those posts.
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2015-11-11 22:00
Edino, a breath of fresh air. Nice to hear someone with the ethics and faith to believe in what they sell and stand behind it. My wife and I used to have a mobile tack store (horseback riding equipment). We even supplied several Olympic riders. We left the business when some of the biggest manufacturers started trying to dictate the use of deceptive practices in sales. If you allow yourself to lose your integrity, you have nothing left to offer.
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