 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: kdk
Date: 2026-04-17 05:30
After 60+ years of playing mostly Vandoren reeds, I find them more consistent now than ever in their history. One thing, though, that has been consistent since I first started playing on "Traditional" (the only kind back then) VDs is that the left side of the vamp is nearly always more resistant than the right side. Back in my youth, I studied with Leon Lester, Robert Genovese and Ron Reuben through high school, and finally Larry Wagner and Anthony Gigliotti at Temple University. They all routinely thinned the left side of the vamp - it was just something that they expected to have to do.
I find all these years later that I still have to sand down the left side of almost every Vandoren I work on. Whichever cut I use (Trad, 56 Rue, V.12 or V21) the same thing is true. I really don't even need to play test them. I was always told in my student days that it was because the right-hand position under the thumbrest tended to cause the instrument to rotate slightly toward the player's left, causing the reed to press more heavily against the embouchure on that side, so the reeds were cut to compensate.
Maybe....
But I'm not sure I buy that explanation. Testing the resistance on each side by rotating the instrument left and right, as most writers suggest, still produces the imbalance. Slight pressure across the underside of the tip with a finger or a fingernail shows clearly stiffer cane along the left rail.
It hasn't ever been a problem for me - I know how to fix it. But I don't quite understand, if this is a design feature, why it has persisted for so long. Every player I've ever known who adjusted Vandorens for balance has worked on the left side.
Am I dealing with an illusion or does everyone deal with it as I have since the 1960s?
Karl
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Author: Alexey
Date: 2026-04-17 09:54
I would be very interested to find out the actual thickness of the reeds on the left and right at different points. I somewhat doubt that reeds are purposefully made asymmetrical.
A lot also depends on how we test. I also often found that reeds feel slightly heavier on the left side, regardless of the brand. However, when I started testing reeds more carefully and precisely (namely, using 3 methods), the results became more varied.
In the end, I concluded that it’s most likely due to our embouchure and imperfections in our testing.
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2026-04-17 10:35
Karl- in my 40 years of playing Vandoren reeds, my experience is different to yours...
My measurements of Vandoren reeds show that the RIGHT side is usually slightly thicker than the left. In a side-to-side playing test, most often it is the right side which feels more resistent and I have to make small adjustments to this side.
On Vandoren reeds where the left side feels more resistant in a side-to-side test, this is usually because the left corner at the tip is too SOFT, which leads to an uneven gradient. It is sometimes possible to correct this by taking away material from further up the rail, but these tend not to be my best reeds, as the basic problem is too little material to start with.
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Author: JTJC
Date: 2026-04-17 11:31
My experience is similar to liquorice, it's predominantly the right side that needs adjusting, and across brands. That's assuming we're all talking about the same left and right. My view is from the curved face of the reed, not the flat.
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Author: paulyb
Date: 2026-04-17 16:04
> My view is from the curved face of the reed, not the flat.
With the tip of the reed at the top and the heel at the bottom?
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