 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: zhangray4
Date: 2018-05-04 11:33
I think back in February someone started a thread regarding PlayNick synthetic reeds. There weren't many reviews and information regarding their reeds, especially their French cut reeds. Since it is a pretty well known company in Europe, I decided to order the Master Cut reeds from PlayNick. I expected them to compete with Legere. So I just wanted to share my experiences with these reeds after a few weeks, since there seems to be a lack of info on these reeds.
It took a long time for the order. The people I talked to said it was because the reeds are so popular, and they are busy meeting the demand. I ordered it sometime in February, and I received the reeds in April. However I don't mind the wait at all as I wasn't in a rush to try it.
Ordering procedures: Basically the reeds come in a box of three, and it doesn't have to be the same strength. They are much cheaper than Legeres (3 for 30 euros), but since I lived in the US, the shipping was a whopping 20 euros. But that's still a bit cheaper than Legere European Cut reeds. You fill out a "contact form" so that a representative will email you. And you order the reeds that way. Oh and they do not use the standard 1-5 reed strength, they use soft, medium/soft, medium, medium/hard, and hard. I play on Legere Euros #4.25, so I got 2 medium/hards and 1 hard.
The actual reeds themselves: They were a huge disappointment. First off, the reed doesn't look like it was precisely made. It wasn't symmetrical, and was uneven. The only advantage they had over the Legeres were that they were more free-blowing, playing at pianissimo without any hiss was fairly easy, and articulation was slightly better. But they had so many problems. The altissimo notes were really flat even when I tried to force it sharper. And I could barely go above A6, when I could get to C7 somewhat comfortably on Legeres and cane reeds. And the sound was just more spread and direct, something that didn't suit me. I tried different mouthpieces, different embouchures, but not much help.
So here's my review on the PlayNick Master Cut reeds, French cut, since not a lot of people have played on them before, and there seems to be a lack of info on them on the web. They just don't work for me, although maybe they work well on PlayNick's own mouthpieces? The material of the reeds are also very different than the ones used on Legeres. They are much harder, and the tip looked much less likely to be chipped than a Legere Euro reed. Also these reeds are advertised as grindable, but I didn't mess around with them. Maybe I will in the future when I have time.
-- Ray Zhang
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Author: Klose ★2017
Date: 2018-05-04 13:03
Thanks for the review. I basically have the same feeling. But please note they recently launched a 2.0 version which they claim have got rid of the flat altissimo notes problem. Not sure if they have a second chance.
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Author: babrinka77
Date: 2018-05-04 16:39
Hello;
I agree with Ray Zhang. I ordered three reeds, two Medium and one medium hard, i usually play on a Legere european cut 3 1/4 on a Playeasy B2 mouthpiece. They say that this reed are the perfetct match for their Playeasy mouthpiece, si i was looking forward to trying them, but when i first tried them i got very disappointed, yeah, maybe articulations is ok, but sound, registers, etc. didn't satisfied me.
My teacher tried them and he didn't like them either, he palys both Legere and cane reeds.
In my opinion Legeres are much better than the master cut reeds, but it is great to have new options.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2018-05-06 08:48
I would throw out the suggestion to all the Legere users that the German cut reeds work GREAT on Boehm mouthpieces (better in my opinion than all of the Legere Boehm offerings....in my opinion). This pertains to all Vandoren mouthpieces and all other brands whose window is narrow enough so that the thin German cut will just cover side to side.
If interested, I suggested starting with a quarter strength SOFTER than what you use in cane. That said I have just started on a very short facing mouthpiece with a small tip opening (1.00mm opening and a 14mm long facing) and the best strength for the German cut reed is..... #2 !!!!!
There is just something about the dimensions of the small cut that lend the material to a more cane like sound.
...............Paul Aviles
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