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lock up?

Author: Irwin J
Date: 2015-04-06 03:49

for years I've played on a Leblanc Opus II. I decided to get a new horn because I was having trouble with intonation and, frankly, just felt like trying something new. I ended up with a Festival Greenline, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it, especially with intonation which is pretty much spot on throughout the entire scale. However I find after playing for about 15 minutes, sometimes the Festival seems to lock up. I check to see that I'm properly covering all holes and for a few seconds, I can't get a sound out of the reed, then if I start lower or higher and come back to that note, it speaks just fine. I thought maybe I'm playing with too soft reeds (Vandoren V12 #3) so I put a new reed in and after about 15 minutes the same thing. I tried switching mouthpieces - went from my Greg Smith Chedeville to my Vandoren 5RV which seemed to help but didn't completely eliminate the lockup. Then for fun I put the Vandoren 5RV on my old Leblanc Opus II and didn't experience the lockup. The Leblanc is easier blowing compared to the Festival - not that the Festival is at all difficult to play, but that the Leblanc seems just more free. Anyway, but for this issue I'm really enjoying the Festival. Does anyone have thoughts on this? Maybe I should try Vandoren V12 3.5?

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