Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2017-07-21 07:26
"I think the suspicion that just about anything could be in a given box fuels the discontent as much as experience."
Vandoren markets these dissimilarities (trying to turn a negative into a positive I think) as an opportunity for each player to find what they're looking for in a box. I wonder if say 10 good players tried the same reeds if there would or wouldn't be something approaching consensus on what were the good or bad reeds. Perhaps not, as even holding player embouchures constant (as if) mouthpieces certainly aren't.
"In ma[n]y cases you can pick out at least one or two reeds that are duds simply by looking at them in the light."
What you call duds I call, "not ready to play out of the box," a comment that lies somewhere between truth and optimism. Sure, even after sanding them they may remain duds, but if their degree of opaqueness in an area of a reed was a surrogate for weakness in that part of the reed, other areas of the reed could possible be taken down to match it without altering strength that much.
Thinner cane in one part of the reed could be stronger than thicker cane, so I just don't go by light. But maybe I do this because I like the visual acumen, failing to find pattern in reeds I like or dislike, maybe because I adjusted them all.
"I have wondered if it is possible to shape the reeds as precisely as they let on. Wood changes shape from the time it is cut until it wears out."
While this does not necessarily a good reed make, Vandoren claims to quality test their reed cutting accuracy, done in a climate controlled room, and package the reeds in foil in that room. Of course even if the reed really is darn close to what it was uniformly cut at when you open the foil, like you said, forget about it staying that way. Perhaps Vandoren's "line" might be that 'given this user experienced variety in post sales shape, it mandates us that much more to do what we can to approach uniformity in manufacture.'
They are being cut with industrial diamond blades, which should be no match for even the hardest cane or its variability.
Funny, if cane is anything but uniform, while I don't recommend haphazard cutting, I'm also not quite sure what is gleaned from precise cutting.
"Reed manufacturers could do their customers an immense favor by classifying the type of cut (in easily understood terms) in each box."
And run the risk of losing sales from a player who might not meet that criterion. At a very high level they do that stuff with reeds for Jazz, etc. But knowing their reed's variability, they claims to fitness could not only be wrong, but reduce the size of the potential buying pool.
(As a classical player, I'd never purchased a Java reed if made for clarinet. Players similar to me might also do same. And yet maybe I should. Ricardo Morales thought outside the box and used/uses Soprano Sax Legeres for clarinet solo work.)
"They could also grade cane like "Premium cane, Var Region", or "Raw bamboo refuse from someone's backyard". "
Companies conduct market research on whether segmenting their brands, and charging more for so called better stuff [cane] will increase profitability. What if they're not so good at picking the cane that plays best? What if they don't want to denigrate any of their existing brands or add even more confusion for dealers and customers to sort out.
"I'd like V21's for Soprano Clarinet Strength 3.5 in 'good' cane' please." Dealers have to inventory much more stock, which makes them unhappy when it doesn't correlate with increased sales.
Manufacturers have one objective: to increase the wealth of the stockholders in the business. One way to do that is to keep customers happy if it correlates well with more sales. But often other methods, even ones that, while not illegal, provide less transparency to the customer so a less informed one makes worse and more profitable choices, is the one chosen.
Perhaps no greater offender in the US market are mattress makers, who put 15 different labels on the same mattress dealer so customers can't comparison shop as well.
Some day, in the not too distant future, wood and clarinet playing may have little to do with each other. Carbon fiber cases and instruments, and synthetics reeds may rule the day.
|
|
The Clarinet BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
