 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: David Pegel
Date: 2001-08-20 02:10
OK, LaVoz has ticked off my buttons one last time. I obviously did not search hard enough. I went to the music store and found three other brands that look promising - at least from the box, which isn't always the best way to judge...
1) Mitchell Luries, which I finally settled for, thickness 2.5
2) Vandorens, 3.5. I didn't trust them since I'm used to thins.
3) Rico Grand Concerts, which I've heard are rather decent, for Ricos.
So, my question, using my Hite Premiere mouthpeice and a standard metal ligature, which of the above choices should I consider most? I've already bought the ML's, but for future reference... What would you do?
(I never did find out just what thickness of reeds works best for Hite Premieres.)
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-08-20 03:31
I think that if you've played for a while those 2.5s are too soft for the Hite. I start kids on 2.5s and move them to ML 3s in a couple of months.
Rico makes many types of reeds. Including those MLs you bought ...
I like Grand Concert Select Thicks.
Vandoren V12s are a common choice.
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Author: Robert
Date: 2001-08-20 03:55
Vandoren Traditonals (purple box) have a problem with consistancy, but are great if your willing to work with them. I've never played V-12s, but keep in mind they are a little softer than the Vandoren Traditionals. Rico Grand Concert Selects (rather descent is an understatement), are just that... Selects, they are very good quality, and good consistancy. Mitchell Luries are also made by ricos and are very good, the MLs however are shorter than the GCSs and have a different cut. If you didn't like the Vandoren 3.5s becuase you are used to thins... why dodn't you go with a Vandoren 3 or 2.5 (Vandoren's hardness scale is about .5 harder than a Rico, with exception of the V-12 which is the same). Anyway here's my quick summary.
Best Reed if your willing to work at it a little bit (sanding, breaking them in, etc) are Vandorens. MLs and GC-Selects have the best consistancy, and its up to you about which cut you like better.
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Author: Whitney C.
Date: 2001-08-20 04:30
I use Vanduran 3s on my Hite Premiere mp. I'd like to try 3.5 the next time I get to the music store.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-08-20 14:11
Try 'em all! Buy one box of each brand, take three reeds out of each box, and put them through your break-in procedure together (you DO have a break-in routine for reeds, DON"T YOU????). Then play on them/scrape them down to where you like them (you DO know how to scrape reeds, DON'T YOU???) and rotate through all 9 reeds for a month or two. THEN you can make a solid decision about what brand you prefer.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-08-20 15:07
David Spiegelthal wrote:
> rotate through all 9 reeds for a month or two.
All nine??? Most guides will tell you to rotate not more than 5 at a time.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-08-20 16:39
You can rotate as many or as few as you want --- how much time you got? The more you rotate, the better a statistical sampling you'll have for making future decisions.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-08-20 18:13
However our memory of what we've played earlier is difficult at best when we need the "one true reed" for a performance. That may be why just about every book I read suggests not more than 5 good reeds at a time in rotation. But if nine is rubbing you the right way - go for it.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-08-20 21:13
What I do (with all my clarinets and saxes) is maintain 10 or so reeds for each instrument in one of those reed wallets. I mark each reed with an identifying number or code, and whenever I play them in rotation, I put them back into the reed wallet in order of best to least good. After a few rotations have been gone through, some reeds will consistently be at the 'better' end, and others will be 'tail-end Charlies'. Then, by seeing which brand(s) more often end up being at the good side, I can make a pretty good decision about what brands seem to work better for me. One doesn't have to play an entire practice session on each reed to do this, by the way ---- 15 minutes per reed is more than sufficient, that way you can go through at least half of the inventory of 10 reeds in a practice session. Of course this is entirely arbitrary and everyone has a different procedure, but this is how I like to do it.
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Author: bob gardner
Date: 2001-08-20 22:19
One of the true gentlemen that I met at the fest was Ben Armato. he is the maker of the Reed Wizard (try saying that 5 times in a row) anyhow he has written a book :"Perfect a Reed.and Beyond" I read it on the plane coming home. You will learn more about reeds then you ever wanted to know. I really enjoyed the book.
I also purchased a Wizard and now I can work on all my old reeds,
At the exhibit area i picked up samples of the Gonzalez, Pete Fountain, Zonda and others. I really liked the Gonzalez 2 3/4 so far.
One of the stories that I heard was " when touring one of the factories he was asked if there was anything he wanted to see" he said yes. " I want to meet the man who puts the two good reeds in every box.
Read Ben's book it may help in how to select a reed or two.
peace.
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2001-08-22 02:46
For no real reason I bought two V-12 #3.5s today. Tonight I tried them and WOW! They sound at least 200% better than the Vandoren Traditional #3s I had been using. Both reeds I got needed no work to sound good (never would happen with the traditionals). It was a "reed revelation."
I've also used Rico Grand Concerts and Oliveris but I think the V-12s are the best I've played so far.
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Author: David Pegel
Date: 2001-08-22 23:54
Yes, I have a breaking in procedure, and yes, I scrape the reeds. The ML's are a little sluggish, so I might try the Vandorens next.
My budget won't let me try them all at once!!
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