 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jason M
Date: 2001-12-12 23:15
I have to buy 4 reeds at a time to find one good one, I always rotate my reeds so I don't get too attached to my treasured dying piece of cane, this is starting to bother me, as I have the premonition, that I will urgently need a reed, buy one (or five) and they will all be totally rubbish. Any advice on a better choice of reed. I use a Vandoren 5JB mpc, and 2.5 strength reeds. They work fab together, when the reed is a good'un
Ta very much
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-12-12 23:41
Buy 10 at a time (buy a box!) - they're cheaper that way.
Get together with friends and buy more boxes at a time - the more you order at once, the cheaper they are per box. I think all the mail-order places will allow you to mix boxes of different strengths.
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Author: anna
Date: 2001-12-13 00:51
try rigotti gold, zonda, excel, opera, and brancher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Author: ron b
Date: 2001-12-13 01:05
Use as many (*$%&)s as you wish, it's a poor workman who blames his tools :
Cane, after it becomes a woodwind reed (tool), is no longer animate.
They player (workman), who becomes somewhat skilled at playing, is quite animate.
Which one do you suppose is the most adaptable?
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Author: Bob Curtis
Date: 2001-12-13 02:06
Jason, this is what I have been saying for a long time about the
Vandoren reeds. If you have the time and the know-how to work on reeds you can usually doctor one up to where it is highly respectable, but I never had the time nor the inclination. By the way, there is no perfect reed. As was mentioned, two of my favorites are the Mitchell Lurie and the Zonda. The Zondas are about one half to one full step stiffer than indicated by the Mitchell Lurie reeds. I use a number 3 to 3-1/2 in the Mitchell Lurie, but only a 2 1/2 in the Zonda's. The cane is fabulos in both, expecially the Zonda reeds. Try them out, and if you aren't pleased, go to something else as recommended by other players. However, only trying out one reed will not give you a true feel for the reed. Try a box and then make your choice. By the way, a good ligature can make a lot of difference in the tone and ability to articulate, believe it or not. Check out the Frank Bichon BG ligs, they are also fabulos.
By the way, I have played the clarinet for 62 years and taught it for over 50 years, so I am no "Johnny come lately." Good Luck in your quest.
Bob Curtis
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Author: sarah
Date: 2001-12-13 02:13
How would you compare the strengths of zondas to traditional vandorens? Using the same mouthpiece, ligature, and clarinet, I found that zonda 3 1/2 were quite a bit lighter than traditional vandoren 3 1/2.
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Author: allencole
Date: 2001-12-13 05:37
I've been quite happy with Zonda reeds for the past 2 years. Almost every one works. Rigotti also has those sub-strengths and it makes selection very accurate.
I haven't been able to cope with Vandorens since I put down my reed knife!
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Author: Jason M
Date: 2001-12-13 08:43
Ron B, thanks for taking the time to assist me, very nice of you.
..and back to the thread.... I will try another brand for a bit and see waht transpires, I don't think it is the ligature, as I have very good success with one reed and not with the another. It seems I will just have to buy in bulk like everyboody else.
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Author: lynn
Date: 2001-12-13 13:33
Learn to work on them. That's your biggest money-saver (and stress-saver). Make some that play on rainy days, some that play on dry days - doesn't matter what brand you use. The onlyl consistent thing about any of them is that they're all consistently bad, LOL.  They change with the weather, they change because they feel like it.....
Larry Guy has a good reed-working book, and there are a couple of other books out there as well. His method takes 10 days (which is a bit long for me) but you can pare it down.
The thing about VanDorens is that when you get a really GOOD one, there is absolutely nothing better. Especially the V-12s. I have one that I've been using off and on for two years, it's my "emergency reed." LOL ::::knock on wood::::
Is it possible to put a picture in a post? Because I have one of burning reeds that is a scream.....
Lynn
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Author: C@p
Date: 2001-12-13 15:02
I tried recently to scrape, sand and cut a reed according to some diagrams and instruction materials about reed which I have. I ended up with a stick.
I next went back to the box and checked them out serially until I found one that I liked, setting the others aside until I have more time to again scrape, sand and cut and when I need more firewood.
C@p
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Author: Donn
Date: 2001-12-13 16:16
I have had very good luck with Rico Royal, although I am not ultra-critical or persnickety about reeds, being an amateur. The price is very affordable when bought from WW&BW.
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Author: willie
Date: 2001-12-13 20:23
I too have been disappointed in the VD reed quality lately. I seem to spend a lot more time working the reeds over to get some good ones. I'm starting to feel like an Oboe player. As soon as the Christmas season is over and my withering wallet gets fed again, I'm going to give the Legeres a serious try.
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Author: Suzanne
Date: 2001-12-13 22:02
You know, I hardly work on my @£*"%£$ Vandoren reeds at all, due to a combination of laziness, ineptitude, and the value of the rewards-to-time-spent-whittling ratio, and I still usually get at least 2 concert-playable reeds out of the dumb box, as long as I keep a bunch out at a time (maybe 20-30), open a new box every few weeks, and rotate them like crazy. I swear, they change daily and it is no use fighting them. I usually can find SOMEthing to work on a particular day, even if it doesn't work the next day and didn't work the day before, and even if the reed that was gorgeous yesterday fails me today. I say, go with the flow, and enjoy the reed's moment, and use the extra time to enjoy life a little... doo bee doo bee doo
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Author: Gene Wie
Date: 2001-12-14 00:49
Well, you could always shell out for one of Armato's Reed Wizards. It's done wonders for the boxes of V12's I've bought lately...and he's done something these past few months to simplify the design (replacing the file with a carbide I believe) though I haven't mailed mine back in for an upgrade (yet).
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Author: donald nicholls
Date: 2001-12-18 10:08
i've got a pile of reed making stuff, Perfectareed, a Reedual etc... and i've only just started (after years of reed adjusting and lessons and advice and reading every article etc) to have sucess with REED RUSH, the simplest and cheapest option.
i mean, i can do great adjustments with my 'dual, but it's a real pain to carry it around (i don't have a home studio). The Reed Rush is cheap, and very portable. You just have to "work smart" and you can make it work- i had been careless and had been impatient. More reccently, with more care and less haste, and by working smarter than before, i started to get great reed results. It shouldn't take years to learn about reeds, it really shouldn't, but somehow it does.
donald
ps i really recomend ANYTHING Tom Ridenour has ever said/written about fixing reeds, plus the article in The Clarinet mag by the late Henry Larsen (pub back in the early '90s i think) is very good. But take care to read instructions carefully and proceed slowly.
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