 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Micke Isotalo ★2017
Date: 2024-01-23 12:57
Attachment: Cordier cut profile.jpeg (62k)
I have the Cordier B-flat clarinet reed trimmer, but the "corners" of the cut are way too steep to match any mouthpiece tip rail known to me (see the attached picture, with a B40 mouthpiece).
Does someone here use the Cordier soprano sax reed trimmer instead, and how well does its cutting profile match such reeds as the Vandoren blue box or V12 (with a flatter profile than the blue box) - or some other B-flat clarinet reed of your choice?
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Author: donald
Date: 2024-01-24 00:05
Some years back Brad Behn advised me to use a Cordier sop sax trimmer, and claimed that the Vandoren V12 trimmers were "over engineered". I didn't take this advice and bought a Vandoren V12 trimmer, only to discover he was correct (no time to elaborate at the moment).
The only drawback with the Sop sax trimmer is that it relies on you lining up the reed "by hand" to get it centered. Not really a problem if you've got a good eye and steady hands.
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2024-01-24 03:28
Wow! That's pretty severe!
I haven't tried the soprano sax trimmer, so I can't answer your question directly.
However, I do have two Bb Clarinet Cordier trimmers that are several decades old and which I used to use extensively.
If memory serves me correctly (as I don't generally trim my reeds now-a-days), the shape of the cutter was suited well to the shape of my mouthpieces as long as I only cut a hairs-width or two from the reed at a time - it kept the corners the correct shape. It does seem like I had to be careful not to cut too much off at a time, or the shape wouldn't match my mouthpiece - though I don't remember it as being anything as extreme as in your photo.
Fuzzy
;^)>>>
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2024-01-24 03:33
I bought my last Cordier clarinet trimmers in the 1970s (might even have been in the '60s). I own two of them. The thing about Cordier trimmers back then was that the good ones cut cleanly with an even shape. Others cut lopsidedly so you had to position the reed by looking at the portion that was sticking up past the cutter edge and tilt the reed in sometimes exaggerated ways to get a centered cut. They were inconsistent to almost the same degree the Vandoren reeds were that they were meant to clip.
Have modern Cordier clippers improved on this?
My general-use clipper for the past 10 years or so has been a Vandoren clipper. I'm not sure what "over engineered" means. They are, I think, more complicated than necessary to do the job, but I find it easy to use and consistent.
Karl
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Author: donald
Date: 2024-01-24 05:11
I very quickly came to understand what Brad meant- the Vandoren V12 trimmer cuts very well, and gives you the flatter profile of the V12 reed. However it is designed to be used with V12 reeds and does not easily accommodate other brands/styles of reeds with different shaped heel, and/or different LENGTH blanks (as you may have when making your own reeds, or trying to apply the V12 tip shape to other brands).
I can't think of any time when I personally use a reed trimmer on a V12 reed, but appreciate that others may use the trimmer primarily for "hardening" V12s they find too soft. I want it not to use on V12s, but to apply the tip shape.
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Author: Slowoldman
Date: 2024-01-24 22:33
I don't know anyone with a soprano sax reed trimmer, so I tried an alto sax trimmer (which I had seen suggested in old clarinet-playing books). For me, this was a no-go. The profile was much too flat, and didn't fit my mouthpieces at all.
I too would appreciate hearing from someone who has been able to try a sop sax trimmer!
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Author: John Peacock
Date: 2024-01-26 20:23
I have a Cordier that produces the same effect that you have, although less marked. But I see it as a positive: in a lot of cases, I find that my reeds are improved by losing these side wings - their sound becomes more mellow without the reed becoming harder overall, as it would if you clipped all the tip. It's also an alternative way of balancing: if a reed is too soft on one side, I remove a bit more of the wing on that side than the other, and that often evens things up without scraping being needed.
These trimmers were terribly inconsistent in shape, and many of them weren't at all symmetrical. When I bought mine from Howarths, they were good enough to get out their entire stock for me to test - of which there was only one worth having. But now I wouldn't be without it.
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Author: JTJC
Date: 2024-01-27 15:15
I've heard some people use a trimmer for a larger size of reed to get the tip curve they want. You don't get the round-off at the corners.
Like John Peacock, I've found it's not necessarily a bad thing if a reed fits the tip rail as in that photo. Correcting it doesn't always improve the response. 'Correcting' it can reduce the brightness of the sound, if that's what you want.
Do others find tip rail profile and reed tip profile have to match for gest results?
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Author: Chris Sereque
Date: 2024-02-19 07:17
I make my own reeds and use a Cordier soprano sax trimmer, and have used one for years. Not sure what difference it makes for the sound, but it just seems as if there is a better seal between reeds and the mouthpiece. You might need to clip the corners back with the soprano sax Cordier-sometimes they do protrude a bit.
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