 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: knotty
Date: 2015-12-30 19:06
Quite often I see up for auction on that site someone selling partial boxes of reeds, usually about two or three reeds short of a box of ten.
I can't help but think it's possible they tried all the reeds and took the best two or three. If so the reeds aren't new as advertised any longer. Or maybe the reeds were just the wrong strength.
Must be the cynical in me!
~ Musical Progress: None ~
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Author: kdk
Date: 2015-12-30 19:43
I don't doubt that what you suggest is possible, even likely. But stores do (or did at one time) sell individual reeds to walk-in customers - mostly students who couldn't pay for a whole box). When I was in high school (50+ years ago) the store managers would let me look at the reeds against a light and pick them for their appearance. In these open boxes, you still may be getting the rejects, but not used reeds.
Karl
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-12-30 21:01
The question would be, why would anyone BUY a partial box?
Of course if they are the individually wrapped Vandorens, then every reed is a "crapshoot."
.............Paul Aviles
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2015-12-30 22:47
Karl,
I remember very well the light and the agony of trying to find THE REED! That was back in the day when VDs came a the paper box; Selmer reeds had a neat box and there was a slot in my Mark VI alto case that was just the right size.
HRL
PS And Vibrators and Brilhart reeds walked the Earth.
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Author: jdbassplayer
Date: 2015-12-30 23:02
I would only by a partial box of reeds if they were the individually wrapped vandorens, that way you can be certain they were never used. Otherwise buying a partial box is a great way to save money on reeds.
-Jdbassplayer
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Author: BGBG
Date: 2015-12-31 00:16
I would wonder why anyone would buy a full or a used partial box of vandorens anyway if it is true only one or two reeds in a brand new box is good. And does 'good' mean only to a highly trained and discriminating professional player? Maybe less experienced players would be satisfied with all the reeds because they did not need or want this perfection. Also maybe this is why people learn to 'touch up' or 'modify' reeds, not to make a brand new one but to make a questionable one perform better.
But I, too, am cynical , knotty, if it is any consolation. Dont even trust myself many times.
And I think I would buy a new box and take my chances, though I certainly dont call myself an expert.
Post Edited (2016-01-01 07:33)
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2015-12-31 00:27
Hmmm. Got a new mouthpiece. Not sure if I should use size 3, 3.5, 3.5+ or maybe even 4s. Guess I have to pay 25 dollars per box for all those sizes just to see what is most likely to match up well....
.....
Unless someone has partial boxes for sale......and I can save money to find reeds that are likely to work and just buy a box of that one to verify......
Alexi
Did- PS - I bought a box of 3.5 cause the few 3.5 reeds I found in a partial box seemed to work well, but it turns out, most of the 3.5s are a little too soft for me. (Musta just gotten some slightly harder reeds in the partials I bought).
I guess I now will buy 3.5+.
If only I knew what to do with the leftover size 3.5 reeds. It's only half a box.....but wait? What if someone else needs to just TRY 3.5s cause they bought a new mouthpiece?
Etc, etc.
In the voice of the singer to "The Lion King"....."IT'S THE CIIIRCLE OF REEEEEEDS......AND WE TRY THEM AAAAALLLLLL...."
US Army Japan Band
Post Edited (2015-12-31 00:30)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-12-31 00:50
Some are just a bad piece of cane or cut incorrectly or both.
If you want to try just one or two reeds, buying a picked through box IS NOT THE WAY TO DO IT !!!!
................Paul Aviles
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2016-01-01 02:52
I may be misunderstanding.....I'm assuming individually wrapped vandoran reeds, just buying half a box or so.
I wouldn't buy a half box of ricos, Gonzalez, or other brands that could potentially have been played and then put back in its holder claiming to be unused.
Maybe I was a little heavy on the sarcasm. But half a box of reeds if I could be sure it wasn't used? I have no problems with that.
US Army Japan Band
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Author: fskelley
Date: 2016-01-01 03:15
I have bought and sold partial boxes, of types that could have been used for all I or my buyer might know. My buyers got good deals on untouched (not even examined) reeds. And the reeds I've bought seemed new enough, though they could have been visually rejected. I've bought Legeres and other synthetics from auctions, certainly it would be easy to resell used (at least lightly used) as new. Most of all this was trying to figure out what works without spending top $$$ in the process- if I got stiffed by a seller or 2 maybe I reached an incorrect conclusion or 2.
Sanitation is another matter, especially for cane reeds. How sure are you that the cane you put in your mouth is actually safe? Who handled it at the factory or store? OK factory sealed I will give you should be better, if all the workers were well those days. How about the reeds you put away days weeks months years ago and you're trying again? I always rinse in peroxide after play (I bet about 0.000001% of you do that) and I don't think that kills all the buggies- but it should be better than plain water or nothing. Sterisol might work better but I find it leaves a bad taste. Perhaps we should all peroxide all new (to us) reeds before the first use- would that change or ruin the breakin process?
So yes partial boxes from unknown sources is dicey. I would prefer to not be limited in my options by $, glad some of you are not. Until I win the Lotto (not likely since I hardly ever play) I will take cheaper alternatives when they are available.
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
Post Edited (2016-01-01 03:34)
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Author: knotty
Date: 2016-01-01 03:17
sfalexi: Exactly, individually wrapped no problem. I meant the ones that are not wrapped, I see quite a few for sale. I was mainly concerned about the health aspects with cane being a porous material.
~ Musical Progress: None ~
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2016-01-02 02:56
Out of curiosity, but in the same vein of this thread, wouldn't almost all custom bassoon and oboe reeds technically be "used"? I see those for sale for 30 bucks a pop, but wouldn't the makers be play testing as they go to insure they are properly adjusted? I can't fathom them relying on just measurements to sell a "ready to play" reed.
What would an oboe player do to a reed after receiving it (if they bought a premade custom reed)?
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: maxopf
Date: 2016-01-02 03:08
I know a local bassoonist who sells reeds he makes. I went along with a bassoonist friend to his shop one time to pick up an instrument he had adjusted (as he's also a repair tech) and saw him make/test the reeds, put them in the box, and hand them to my friend. I don't think my friend sanitizes them, though maybe I'm wrong. Maybe double reed players are just less worried about sanitation.
Post Edited (2016-01-02 03:09)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2016-01-02 06:14
maxopf wrote:
> Maybe double reed players are just less
> worried about sanitation.
>
Neither were most clarinet players 40 or 50 years ago.
Karl
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Author: donald
Date: 2016-01-02 16:05
If you're worried just wash them, however as mentioned above there's a good chance that "unwrapped" reeds may have already been rejected as not up to scratch. Regardless, your chances of catching anything are about the same as getting pregnant by falling onto a box of tomatoes (as in the movie Leolo- where it is described as a kind of divine miracle). Look at all those men in who don't wash their hands after urinating, you see this all the time in public loos, I'd be more worried about that. NEVER shake hands with an american male under the age of 30
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Author: GeorgeL ★2017
Date: 2016-01-02 17:28
Guys. When you were in school, if the hottest chick in the class wanted you to kiss her, would you have done it? What if she asked you to see if her clarinet reed was any good?
Human's have evolved a pretty good immune system. The odds are heavily tilted against illness if you try a dry used reed.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2016-01-02 19:38
When I was a student in NYC and studying with Joe Allard, as well as Leon Russionaff, Joe took me on a tour of the music stores on 48th St. Back then there were probably a dozen of them. Many of them had several boxes of opened reeds to choose from. We went from one store to another and Joe showed me what to look for to choose the "best" reeds out of each box. We were even allowed to open some new books when there weren't enough to choose from. He pointed out the evenness of the grain, placing them on glass for flatness etc. By the time we finished I had 50 "best reeds". Qualifying, Vandorens came in 25 to a box back then. I thought I had gone to reed heaven, 50 hand picked reeds, all perfect. Instead of just getting 4-5 good reeds out of a box of 25 I basically had two full boxes of the best, years worth of great reeds. WRONG! It was no better than just buying two unopened boxes of reeds.I may have had 8-10 decent reeds out of 50, maybe. But of course I paid more buying them as singles instead of by the box. There's a motto in here someplace.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: fskelley
Date: 2016-01-02 20:09
WhitePlainsDave suggests in another thread that perhaps we would not all choose the same "good" reeds out of a box of 10 or 50. If that's true, it could actually be OK to start with someone else's rejects, perhaps they've already taken away some of my "bad" ones and left me some or all of my "good" ones.
Beyond the health and aesthetic issues of playing reeds someone else has already played (perhaps briefly or it would be obvious from the color change)- could there be benefits? A head start on breakin? Perhaps the reeds play a bit better so you might not reject what would be an ultimate winner? The biggest downside I see is the original tester (or 2 or 3 of them, isn't that a pleasant thought?) might have ADJUSTED the reed, skillfully or not, probably not to your benefit.
Nice things to ponder as you slip that new reed in your mouth. Suddenly I'm glad I always use a medicine bottle of WATER for initial wetting, works better than my dry tongue anyway.
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
Post Edited (2016-01-02 20:10)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2016-01-02 23:23
I belive many, if not most, double reed makers soak their reeds in an anticiiptic of some sort before shipping them. At least those I know. If you were to buy single opened box reeds form someone you could do the same thing. And even though it's true someone else rejects may be your finest to me it just don't make sense to buy them. There is a German reed company, Stier or something like that, and some others I've seen that sell "hand made" reeds. I don't know if they've been play tested or not and what they do before shipping. I tried some many years ago and assumed they were germ free. Didn't like that though.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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