Author: seabreeze
Date: 2016-04-06 03:13
I don't play Vandoren V12 5s on anything. Years ago, I gave up playing hard reeds and learned to get a resonant and balanced sound on several brands of 3 to 3.5 reeds (most recently including Vandoren 21, Peter Leutner, and AW). It is just too much work for me to push a reed that heavy on most mouthpieces and that is why I suggested you talk to a leading mouthpiece pro to see what they could make for you.
If I wanted to play a heavy reed I would use the Clark Fobes CWF personal facing mouthpiece that I own, which has a very close facing (0.96 mm at the tip) and is very free-blowin. Of all the many mouthpieces I own, that one has the natural liveliness of tone and lack of resistance that would let me survive (frankly speaking) on such a hard reed. Even so, I'm sure I would not enjoy pushing my limits that way. I would die playing a reed like that on any of my other moutpieces, unless, of course, I worked on it to reduce its strength.
Fobes has a well developed understanding of mouthpiece physics and acoustics and he would be able to tell you if his most recent model, the 10K, which seems from all descriptions I have heard to continue and possibly perfect many of the attributes of the Fobes CWF, would be a possible choice for you. I am in no way suggesting that you order a 10K blindly on Internet or that I can assure you that it will accomodate your Vandoren V12 5. I'm not sure that any "ready made" model mouthpiece will do that .
That's why I suggested you take up the topic with the mouthpiece experts to see if they can "confect" something to your liking. Call Fobes, Grabner, Smith, and Behn and see what they think.
I plan to try Fobes' 10K myself soon, and I fully expect it to work fine on the 3 and 3.5 strength reeds I play. I personally will not be trying it (or anything else) with an unadjusted #5 reed. And I will not be trying the 1L facing; I will try the 0.96 mm CF facing that I know from experience works best for me. I only suggested you TALK to Fobes about the 1L because that facing is a little longer and therefore just might better accommodate a harder reed. If he says it doesn't then you will need to try something else.
Most players who buy Vandoren V12 5 reeds probably adjust them to play easier, so, as actually played, they are really at a lower strength than #5. Modified in that way, they are more likely to fit a wide variety of mouthpieces. They buy the V12 in the maximum 5 strength with lots of wood in it so they can sand down the wood to get it to play as they wish. It comes as a sort of partially finished blank they can shape to meet their needs.
Post Edited (2016-04-06 23:58)
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