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Re: Are German and French cut reeds really very different

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2021-09-07 15:54

From what I am to understand there is more "flexibility" amongst German players as to what is acceptable in a reed these days. Much like our fascination with German and Viennese cut reeds, players like Karl Leister have used Boehm reeds on German mouthpieces with quite a bit of success.

Back in the day (mid 80s) there was more distinction. Traditionally speaking a German reed is cut smaller (narrower and shorter). The vamp is shorter and more of a chisel shape rather than the more complex shape of a traditional Boehm reed (a duckbill shape, for lack of a better term). The current Vandoren White Masters (Traditional version) will give you a good sense of what is still considered a true German cut reed (also the Legere German cut reeds).

It is important to know that the style of cut and size was meant to pair up with a traditional German mouthpiece (best examples of which are the Wurlitzer mouthpieces of which the M3+ is as 'standard' a measure as the Vandoren M13 is for us). Using a German mouthpiece like the Wurlitzer with a strength 2 1/2 Traditional White Master is probably as close as you can get to what German classical players mostly used "back in the day."

Lastly the tenon of a German mouthpiece is about 1.00mm larger in diameter and 1.00 longer than their Boehm counterpart. So a non-modified German mouthpiece will NOT fit into a Boehm barrel and conversely, a Boehm mouthpiece will "rattle around" in a German barrel.

......................Paul Aviles

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