libes@nbs-amrf.UUCP (Don Libes) (02/01/85)
Following are some opinions (most of them mine) on various clarinet reeds and
mouthpieces. Most people who wrote to me, have tried only two different
brands of reeds. I did a survey of my own recently that included all of the
reeds people have mentioned so this is pretty complete. I bought them all at
the same place, 8 of each kind if sold separately (or a box of 12). I've
played for years on Rico 2.5s, so I tried to get 2.5s or Mediums in all the
other reeds.
My style of playing means not spending more than 30 seconds of tweaking/reed.
Hence, it is possible that reeds one is expected to coddle or shape to ones
liking, I trash. It is possible that the reeds I didn't like fall into this
catagory. I gather that most people who answered me spend as little or less
time reed tweaking.
I'll put the summary first to spare you the suspense:
M La Voz best
2.5 Mitchell Lurie very good
3.0M Van Doren good - better only after major tweaking
2.5 Rico average
2.5 Rico Royal average
2.5 Olivieri terrible - stiff. also, doesn't fit the lay or the
ligature well at all.
M Fibercane worst - don't get this no matter how logical it
seems.
M = Medium
La Voz - No one in the survey was using these clarinet reeds (although cvl!smd
uses their #3 sax reeds). I thought they were the best, requiring little
tweaking and a very high percentage being playable. I am going to buy these
from now on.
Mitchell Lurie - I thought these reeds were very good, although a box had a
lower yield of good ones then the La Voz. However, you can buy them
separately - none of this sight-unseen crap. astrovax!tss said that they tend
to produce a "dry" tone, perhaps because of bad cane.
Van Doren - These have the cadillac reputation of clarinet reeds. They were
good (but not up to La Voz standard), but required major tweaking. What's
more is that most of the reeds in the box are duds (and you have to buy them
by the box - sight unseen).
Rico - to paraphrase astrovax!tss, "cheapest in all senses of the word, but
fine for beginners - put it on and it will play, but thats about all it will
do". bbncca!keesan agreed and added that "the Royal version is just a little
bit better than the plain Rico". However, I found no discernable difference
between the Rico and their Royal cousin except that the Royals were more
expensive and more of them were duds.
Olivieri - Their 2.5 is more like everyone else's 4.5 But even if thats what
you want, skip it unless you want to do a LOT of sanding and tweaking. They
were so thick that didn't fit under my ligature!! Also, the tip was not
rounded to the same shape as that of my mouthpiece. Naturally, it played
horribly.
Fibercane - Every agreed on this. These reeds are no good, even for
beginners. Its too bad, because the idea is good. They are virtually
indestructible. If they worked, they'd be great for marching. On the
positive side, I played contrabass clarinet in HS. I used one fibercane reed
for 2 years. It was much better than any cane reed I could buy. And I never
spent time tweaking it or even licking it to get it wet. It was always
"warmed up".
I also checked out some mouthpieces.
Buffet stock yuck - I guess they just supply this as a placeholder.
Selmer B* very easy to play. Allows (or perhaps encourages) sloppier
playing. Good for jazz, I suppose. Can't get up as high
without pain or flatness, though.
Selmer HS* hard to play
Selmer HS** much superior to the HS*. Good for classical.
I ended up buying both a B* and a new HS** (I've played on an HS** for
years). I play about 90% on the HS** and 10% on the B*, but I could imagine
one playing solely on the B*.
I also bought some "pad savers" by La Voz. They look like oversized pipe
cleaners that fit into your instrument when its in the case. They are sized
for clarinet, flute and soprano sax (at the store I was in. They are
probably available for most woodwinds). They seem like a super idea.
To those who complained about reed warpage, try a reed holder. Van Doren has
a fancy metal one ($15) and a cheapie plastic one for ($3). I bought the
cheap one about 5 years ago and it looks like it will last forever.
Don Libes {seismo,umcp-cs}!nbs-amrf!libes
Disclaimer: These are my subjective opinions and do not represent those of my
employer.