The Soundboard

Miles Osland · Guest

New/fresh for 2007!

tenor.madness · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 16777214

the only new reed development for me in 2007 is an utter lack of quality reeds in my recent vandoren purchases, maybe 2 really good reeds in my last 2.5 boxes. I usually have great success with vandorens, especially javas.

stevesklar · Joined: 03 Apr 2005 Posts: 1 Location: Michigan, USA

I use Henke reeds and I normally don't have a problem using all the reeds in the box.

You may want to check your reeds for some consistency - there's more to it than this, but it's a start.

Check the butt of the reed - the opposite side of the tip. Compare the heights and thickness (height) of each side - use a magnifying glass if you need to. Basically, it should have a symmetric shape. Alot of reeds may not and don't respond as well.

Keith · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 2 Location: Boothwyn, PA

I have been using Rico reeds, standard version and I use 2 - 2.5, I really haven't experimented with anything else, I might try Vandorens. I have a synthetic "Bari" reed which is pretty decent, considering it was probably an $8 - $10 reed. Do different brands of reeds offer different sound tones?I would guess so huh.
_________________
Without beginning or end, the ring stretches into the infinite

iexiak · Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 1

i play bari, and i wouldnt use anything besides a vandoren, mostly jazz. Then again i play a 4 and i have a big problem with paying 4-5 $ for a reed and having to replace it in a week, which is what i find myself doing with ricos.

speaking of plastic reeds i have a bari brand bari sax reed in a hard, and after about half an hour of pep band play it starts to develop the feel of a wooden reed, only with the out of tune upper octave of a plastic reed. not a fair trade off in my opinion.. was wondering if this was normal or if i should just invest in a different brand plastic reed.

Keith · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 2 Location: Boothwyn, PA

I don't know, I don't play my sax for more than 15 minutes at a time right now. I would try getting a different type of plastic reed, and do some comparissons. It might be you've had that reed for so long that it's starting to fade or just go bad. Plastics / synthetics last up to 8x longer than normal reeds, but they don't last forever.
_________________
Without beginning or end, the ring stretches into the infinite

segway · Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:55 pm Post subject: Plastic Reeds...

I've been using the Légère reeds for the past 18 months and I am very happy with them. I use them on all my horns; soprano, alto and tenor. They last a long time but after a few months they do seem to die out. You can buy them from the Woodwinds & Brasswinds store online: http://www.wwbw.com

Here is the company's web site; http://www.legere.com

Voiceman1000 · Joined: 22 Aug 2006 Posts: 16777212 Location: San Diego, CA

What John describes is almost identical to what David Sanborn does, according to an interview about it on DS's website. He buys reeds, soaks 'em for about 2 hours, then takes them out and sticks them under a bell jar (as his "humidor") and lets 'em sit for several months. Claims he gets better consistency and a lot of mileage out of each one that way...

I personally switched over to Fibracell synthetic reeds about 3 years ago and LOVED them. LOVED them. Fibracell material is a sophisticated composite of aerospace materials designed to precisely duplicate the way reed canes are constructed. Very stiff (a Med is like a regular cane reed Med-Hard) but sound absorbing Aramid fibers are suspended in a light weight resin formulation. The guy used to make them with tiny bits of Kevlar embedded in them, which provided sound resonating qualities that were amazingly accurate, and very reed-like, while obviously being incredibly tough and durable. I've had Fibracells that I played - consistently and regularly! - for 6-8 months!

2 problems though: 1), when they go "dead", they simply (and literally) just stop playing. No cracks, no chips, just stop DEAD. I mean, you can't blow a single note out of your horn. This happened to me in the middle of a major gig. Talk about embarrassing. 2), they guy making them has stopped using Kevlar (some time ago now) and the reeds since then don't play anywhere near the same.

So, I've started in the last 7-8 months back on regular reeds. Hemkes and Vandoran Jazz mostly, but also Rico Royals are OK once in awhile. (heavy sigh) Still, they aren't the same, and have a great deal of variation in quality. I wish I had my old Fibracells back, quite frankly.
_________________
Real men blow real hard . . .