 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ypkoa1
Date: 2017-01-24 08:07
Hi everyone,
This is my first post on here, because I have a question that has not been answered. I have been playing on Olivieri 3.5 reeds, and for quite some time, they have not been in stock at Muncy Winds and WWBW. Everytime that I check and see if they will be available soon, and the date always is delayed by an extra couple of weeks. Recently, the Olivieri 3s have gone out of stock as well.
Would any of you happen to know if the reeds are still in production? This is important, because I have tried numerous other brands (Vandoren, Legere, Gonzalez, Leuthner, Zonda) and I am coming up short on a reed that performs that well on my Pyne Bel Canto (Medium opening).
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Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2017-01-26 04:52
I emailed Phil indirectly through Pam about the Olivieri reed situation and received the following reply and written permission to post on this BB.
Dan,
Pam forwarded to me your email below. Thanks for contacting us.
Currently the only strength we are out of is the 3.5 in both the Elite and the Traditional models. All other strengths are in stock at this time. There are two reasons why the 3.5 strengths are currently out of stock.
1) To the surprise of many, I am the only person that has been making the Olivieri reeds for now almost 15 years. I am a one man shop in this endeavor. I also am the sole person making the Muncy clarinet barrels along with a number of other Muncy products. In my production, I try to produce large runs of reeds that will sustain sales while I am making barrels etc. In 2016 I added a new Bb and A clarinet barrel model with silver plated rings to my line up. This took a great deal of time to design and produce, thus cutting into the time I had to produce more Olivieri reeds.
2) The last run of Olivieri clarinet reeds I produced yielded a very low number of 3.5 strength reeds. It is not possible to make a specific reed strength. That is greatly dependent upon the hardness of the cane that nature produces.
My sincere apologizes for not having available the 3.5 strength at this time. I am working to remedy this problem as I turn my attentions back to more Olivieri production. Thank you for your patience.
Philip Muncy
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Author: TomS
Date: 2017-01-27 04:29
I seem to remember that the James Pyne MPs, at least back in the early 1980s, were designed with the Vic Olivieri reeds in mind (?). I think the cane was of Spanish origin ...
Tom
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Author: ruben
Date: 2017-01-27 14:17
Dear TomS,
Chuck Olivieri, who was a dear friend, used Australian cane during the last 10 years of his life. Great stuff! It would last forever. It wasn't the cane used by that Australian reed-maker that no longer seems to exist. It is my belief that the Olivieri reeds made by Muncy are nowhere near as good as Charles' were. Let's face it: this is what often happens. Is there anyone out there that knows where that Australian cane came from? I don't know whether Muncy still uses it.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: ClarinetRobt
Date: 2017-01-27 19:45
Ruben:
Back in the day, we noticed the vamp was a tad shorter on Oliveri reeds (I played on them exclusively in high school). During my HS years I was always fighting a nagging chirping problem with my reeds. When I finally switched to Vandoren in college the problem cured itself with no other equipment change. Chatting with pros years later, they mentioned the vamps being shorter on Oliveris (always chirping for them too) which is why they quit using them years ago. Otherwise they were terrific, but not so much with our set-ups.
Has that issue ever been address. This is perhaps something we noticed in our own bubble and wasn't anything ever discussed within the entire clarinet community. I think I've mentioned this to Phil Muncy in passing, but have no idea what he said at the time.
Just curious...
~Robt L Schwebel
Mthpc: Behn Vintage
Lig: Ishimori, Behn Delrin
Reed: Legere French Cut 3.75/4, Behn Brio 4
Horns: Uebel Superior (Bb,A), Ridenour Lyrique, Buffet R13 (Eb)
Post Edited (2017-01-27 19:48)
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Author: TomS
Date: 2017-01-27 20:26
Okay ... I stand corrected ... Chuck Olivieri and Australian cane it is! I was trying to recall what an old (and brief) teacher told me about the reeds. I only tried a couple of boxes, and this was back around 1983 or so ... I may still have a few in my archives ... might put them to service again!
Tom
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Author: ruben
Date: 2017-01-27 23:38
Tom, You don't really stand corrected, because Spanish cane it was until the nineties, when Chuck started using Australian cane. Before that, it was from Majorca, where he lived and worked. The Australian cane was used when he was producing reeds in Tucson, Arizona-a long way from Las Palmas!
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: GBK
Date: 2017-01-28 00:17
In the 70's and early 80's the (Spanish cane) Olivieris were one of the more popular brands, and were used (and endorsed) by many top players. They came in both tempered and untempered versions, even though many now suspect that there was no difference between the two types.
A good Olivieri reed at times rivaled a Morre in sound, projection and color. However they were few and far between since the consistency of quality varied greatly from reed to reed and from box to box. Yes, I did play them during that era but became frustrated at the lack of uniformity.
Suddenly, in the early 80's the reeds took a nose dive. Miscuts were rampant, cane quality was very suspect, and the packaging was horrendous with numerous broken reeds. In short, they became a mere shadow of themselves, and players abandoned them in droves. The reeds had a pronounced tendency to squeak and chirp due to the uneven thickness of the thin tip, and their useful life (of the few good ones) was quite short.
I haven't tried the newer (Australian?) cane variety. But with so many better reeds available, the memory of unpredictable chirping has turned me away.
...GBK
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Author: ClarinetRobt
Date: 2017-01-28 03:29
GBK:
That makes me feel better about my chronic chirping back in the day. I wasn't proficient enough then to think about reed variations from box to box. I know for months it wasn't an issue, then bam, I lived in constant fear of chirping, but never actually squeaking.
I agree, with my bad experience with Oliveri, I would shy away from even trying them now.
~Robt L Schwebel
Mthpc: Behn Vintage
Lig: Ishimori, Behn Delrin
Reed: Legere French Cut 3.75/4, Behn Brio 4
Horns: Uebel Superior (Bb,A), Ridenour Lyrique, Buffet R13 (Eb)
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Author: ruben
Date: 2017-01-28 16:09
GBK: My impressions were very different. But then again, maybe it was because I would spend the whole morning trying them out before buying them. In the old days, when one could still try out Vandoren reeds at their factory, this improved one's impressions of Vandoren too. Frank Cohen used Olivieri reeds until the death of Chuck Olivieri, but he would buy about a thousand a year. Some of them were bound to be good. This is a luxury most of us cannot afford.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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