 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ruben
Date: 2016-11-13 21:59
I've just tried a couple of Chinese reeds-no brand to be found on them (prototypes?). They're certainly not good, but as far as I can tell, the quality of the cane seems excellent. Are there any good brands of Chinese reeds? If they go for a fifth the price of our Western ones, makers of the latter should start worrying.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Ed
Date: 2016-11-14 05:52
On the flip side, I have had some students show up with reeds that they have bought online. There were names that I have never heard of or no name. They were pretty terrible- funky cut with an odd length vamp, very grainy looking cane, some very green, others very brown. They were very light in strength. Despite the number being 2.5 or higher, they sounded like they were playing on a number 1 or 1.5 and pitch was very flat.
I think like some of the instruments that are coming through these days, it is probably a mixed bag.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2016-11-14 10:51
Chinese cane has been successful with oboe, cor anglais and bassoon reeds, but they're largely hand made and finished as opposed to being machine made. Maybe the Chinese cane structure isn't suited to being made into single reeds that are direct copies of existing ones instead of being made to specifications suitable for the different nature of the cane without putting any research or development into it. From what I understand, Chinese cane is spongier than Mediterranean cane.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2016-11-16 00:36
"From what I understand, Chinese cane is spongier than Mediterranean cane." That would make them roughly comparable to the old 'brown box' Ricos? I once wrote that those Ricos were more like styrofoam than cane.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2016-11-16 10:53
Dear Chris, I saw a "reed- map" once of the Var and learned that there are separate regions for oboe cane, bassoon cane and clarinet cane. The oboist I play with cuts down wild cane in the Var that grows by the railway tracks to make her reeds. I had a few reeds made out of this cane for clarinet, but the cane was too hard. I've heard, over the last few years, that Vandoren puts the: roseau du Var, sticker on their boxes of reeds, but that actually, they use a lot of Gonzales cane from Mendoza, Argentina. The latter, I find spongy and too soft. A Chinese company has bought some land in the Var to make their cane, so it would appear that this region of France still rules the roost. I've been told that its secret property is the Mistral wind that blows so strong. It makes the cane fibrous. It's doing on the plant what it will later do in your mouth: vibrate and bend with the wind.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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