 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Exiawolf
Date: 2015-11-13 05:30
In a box of reeds, do you generally find that a few if not more are a bit too soft for performance? I recently got a Gregory Smith mouthpiece and it is such a beautiful sounding and responsive piece, but it easily seems to sound a bit too buzzy with some of my reeds (3.5 V12's). I contacted Mr. Smith and he said it would be worth it to try 3.75's to see if that works better for myself, but it just got me curious if this strength variance was normal for other people in the clarinet community.
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Author: ned
Date: 2015-11-13 06:19
I have been playing for about 50 years and nothing has really changed regarding the vexed question regarding the consistency of reed quality.
Such is life....
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2015-11-13 06:30
Exiawolf wrote:
> In a box of reeds, do you generally find that a few if not more
> are a bit too soft for performance? ...but it just got me curious if this strength
> variance was normal for other people in the clarinet community.
Yes. Or too hard.
Reed vibrancy depends on the characteristics of the individual piece of cane. It's a natural material and every one of them is different.
Karl
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Author: Robert Moody
Date: 2015-11-13 17:16
I have recently switched to Legere Signature synthetic reeds. Been about a month or two. As of right now...there is no way I'm going back. They are too good and toooooooo consistent to go back to cane reeds.
Suggestion? Try one. I would get one .25 strength softer than you would normally use. They ARE much more expensive, but then again, you don't have to replace them very often if you take care of them.
I believe Ricardo Morales plays on them exclusively as well and he has a sweet sound.
Robert Moody
http://www.musix4me.com
Free Clarinet Lessons and Digital Library!
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2015-11-15 21:50
Most cane reed manufacturers that I know of cut all reeds of a brand as identically as possible, allowing the inherent differences that mother nature puts into one section of cane, versus another, to control reed strength.
Once cut, the reeds are then either flexed a fixed distance at their tip, noting how much energy was required to effect this, or more commonly, the reeds are subject to a fixed amount of energy to displace their tip, and their variable displacement is noted. From either test, individuals reed strength is calculated.
The latter is often done via a blow test, not uncommon to that done during a routine optometric glaucoma puff of air test. But this one test (done once) is far from perfect on reeds, and doesn't necessarily measure how the reeds will stand up over time, and when exposed to moisure.
If too many reeds in boxes of the same strength and brand are coming up too soft, considering upping your purchase strength slightly, and sanding down.
https://youtu.be/MwOUEsdpuI0?t=1m55s
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2015-11-19 03:11
Plastic reeds are more consistent but IMHO lack some tone quality in the upper clarion and altissimo. I use them on the alto and bass. It seems plastic reeds work better for lower instruments. I talked to a bassonist who said he saved hours every week using them.
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