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Re: Adjusting V12s

Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2014-05-21 01:45

I respect Karl's opinion, and hope his solutions works for him. The only reason I am responding is because of what I see as somewhat of a paradox: that being that limitations I see in Karl's approach only become apparent (I believe) after first studying what is different about the ATG system.

(Disclaimer: I am friendly with Ted Ridenour but in no way profit from the sale of Ridenour clarinet products. I own an "A" clarinet from Ridenour and love it, as I do the ATG system, both of which I paid full price for.)

It's not my desire to disclose elements of the ATG system to those who don't license its use except to say that the way Tom (Ridenour) looks at a reed is different than anything I've heard or seen prior, and as a result, his methods for addressing a reed's difficiencies are equally, IMHO, unprecendented and brilliant.

In short, a reed transfers the energy you apply to it with breath from the tip and sides to the middle and down the reed's base. This energy transition needs to happen smoothly (it's , BTW, why your reed's vamp is contoured with respect to all the vamp's edges).

Making small scraps (which at that level of thinness are more akin IMHO to gouges) to tiny sections of a reed, I believe, take you further away from smooth energy transfer. Tom's system, and the way his tools are designed and explained, allow you to balance a reed and preserve its contour: which I happen to believe are highly correlated--not 2 separate things.

I thought when Tom first promoted the product and said that people don't believe him when he says he discards very few reeds that something was off. I'm now also disguarding few reeds for anything but being worn out.

That the product pays for itself in reed savings can be quantified, and it's huge. But that the product pays for itself in reducing frustration with reeds can't even be quantified for me.

Please, feel free to search ATG here. No, not every reed out of ATG will be one you do your Curtis audition on. But that's because I feel all your reeds will improve in playability with it.

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