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Re: Squeaky Reed

Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2018-02-23 21:32

Maybe I can still help. I actually made the Mitchell Lurie reeds at Rico for 15 years. I was in charge of them and close friends with Mitchell. This is my last attempt. Glad you got rid of the mold issue. You don't need plastic either. Often people place too much into reed conditioning. Look at it this way Mitchell Lurie used the same reed for 8 months to a year. This is unusual. But an example of how he didn't do a thing to his reeds. He just used the same reed everyday, no rotations nothing. I use the same reed until it dies. Then I find a new one. I don't use a rotation system. I play up to 4 hours a day. Change reeds about every 3 to 7 weeks.

His reeds are smaller in length for a reason. They were cut twice for accuracy using 2 large 3/8" diamonds spinning at 15,000 RPM's (Revolutions per minute) This was the ONLY machine with 2 cutting diamonds on the machine out of 32 machines and each machine could cut a reed in 6 seconds or less. Often we had or I should say "I" had to run 2 machines to keep up with the demand as 1 1/2 million reeds were sold of just his per year. Mitchell got 5 cents per reed. So he really liked me and my designs. I made him a lot of money.

Now you are using a Vandoren M13. This is a very close tip of 1.01mm's. You have been playing for well over 2 years now probably 3 to 5 years. It is my strong opinion and suggestion that you should be playing on nothing less than a 3 strength reed Mitchell Lurie reed. I think you should be on a 3 1/2.

Also the tips on the reeds were set at just 0.005", less than 2 human hairs, so the side rails are thin. Very thin and will collapse as the reeds get old causing you to squeak on this very small tip opening mouthpiece. Now I haven't worked at Rico in a long time, but when I was there I picked out only the very best cane. Now that I'm gone and Mitchell is dead the quality control surely has gone down. The musicians there I'm sure are not good and don't care about the cane quality.

So use 3 strength reeds and after a few months jump this up to 3 1/2. This is about right for an M13 mouthpiece. In fact a lot of players would use even heavier reeds such as a Vandoren 3 1/2 plus to a 4.

The Mitchell Lurie reeds don't last as long as other reeds. I would get rid of them after about 20 hours of playing, maybe less, because of the thin cuts and the poor cane quality.

You might want to try an M15 mouthpiece which has about a 1.03 tip opening. You may feel more freedom when playing.

I've told you this before that Rico uses PESTICIDES on ALL of their reeds. Often their reeds are sprayed 2 and 3 times. Notice how I've been warning people about this for years and I'm still warning people. Rico doesn't care. They haven't sent me a single threatening letter. In fact just last week they failed to show up for a hearing. So now we filed to go to trial. I will be asking for something around 1 million. They can't keep doing this. But for those that want to put pesticides in their mouths and bodies and think that it won't hurt them I'm not stopping you. I worry about the kids just starting to play the clarinet. Lets stop this madness. Make Rico pay and make Rico stamp every box of reeds that these reeds have Pesticides on them. Let the parents decide if they want to harm their kids.

Music should be fun. Squeaks are not fun. Try this and see what happens.

Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces

Yamaha Artist 2015

Post Edited (2018-02-23 21:33)

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Squeaky Reed new

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2018-02-21 02:50