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Re: Which clarinet reeds do the pros play?

Author: donald
Date: 2023-05-24 04:33

I'll agree with Paul above where the Vandoren mouthpieces are concerned... in the 1980s these were pretty awful, and the blanks still usually sounded ugh after refacing so it wasn't just the facings that were messed up. Sometime after the 1990s... who knows when... the blanks improved greatly and the facings because MUCH more consistent (mouthpieces still vary within a model, but gone are the wide discrepancies where 3 or 4 of the same model would be COMPLETELY different).
Vandoren Reeds- I think these are still a bit inconsistent, I'd imagine this is largely due to the fact that cane is a natural product, and the small variations in "bark profile" (ie the shape of the shiny bit) result in bigger variations in the cut (something you'll discover if you machine your own reeds).
My theory on why they SOUND great...
- the Vandoren reed profiles have a more sophisticated convex curve across the width of the reed. This makes the profile MUCH harder to machine (and if you have ever got a knife out and whittle a reed from a blank you'll discover it is much easier to control/manipulate/reproduce a concave curve than a convex one).
This creates a richer tone, allows more leeway for adjusting by hand, but also makes reproduction harder and consistency suffers.
A theory based on measuring, playing and adjusting reeds over the last 30 or 40 years- and on working hard to get various other *more consistent* brands to produce the same result as Vandoren.

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