Reeds Bari synthetic reed

[gladsaxisme]

During our little jaunt over to the pool of life ie scouse land and a meeting at trimmy's,Ade had a tenor mpc fitted with a Bari synthetic reed and I knew I had one in my box of tricks so I got it out and gave it a try and it really wasn't bad at all, I remember when I first got it that I thought it was awful with a terrible sound but that was millennia ago and now it was a completely different animal with lots to offer and has been firmly affixed to my SA80 ever since.its funny how much things change as you progress around the learning curve,any one else enjoying the Bari synths.....John

Ps and by the way trimmy I would love a loan of that BLEECHER?mpc for a while if it's possible

 

[Fraser Jarvis]

Yes tried a few, a hard, a med, a hard* and a soft. Couldn't get on with any of them to be honest, the last one a soft was like having a builders plank strapped to the mouthpiece so obviously a dud. I know someone who uses Bari soft and has done for a good few years and swears by them, they last him about 3 months before needing changing.

 

[altissimo]

In my experience, Bari* reeds vary a bit and quality control can be a rather lax. The first one I bought was cut way off centre and even had a thin ridge of uncut plastic down one side where the cutting head on the machine had missed. I emailed Bari about it and they apologised and sent me 4 replacements, all of which are cut slightly differently, but no where near as bad as the first one..
10 out of 10 for customer service, 4 out of ten for manufacturing tolerances..

The reeds themselves play ok-ish and are very bright sounding. I've filed and sanded the original mis-cut one and one of the others and they play a bit better now, but still not as good as my old Fibracell. They make a hell of a racket on my Metallite M11..

I'm going to order a Forestone for xmas and maybe investigate the new Hartmann hemp fibre reeds when the come out - I've got some gigs coming up next year and need to be ready..

 

[trimmy]

Ps and by the way trimmy I would love a loan of that BEECHLER? mpc for a while if it's possible

You are welcome to loan it John, i'll bring it along to our next meet (slight edit) ;}

 

[ESJohn]

Old threads for an old guy. I have a Bari Star medium soft alto sax reed on its way to me. I'm guessing it will be Monday before it arrives, although it could surprise me and be here tomorrow. I worked with a rep at Sweetwater who advised that strength. The price attracted me because this will be the first synthetic reed that I will experience. I'm going to start getting reacquainted with the sax after a three-month hiatus due to my heart surgery so I thought it might be a good time to try one out. Not much of a loss if it doesn't work since the cost was only $16.75 US, and I still have my cane reeds available. Sweetwater shows the medium soft to be roughly the same as a 2.0 to 2.5 natural reed. I'll post my reactions to it after I've had some time with it.

 

[ghostler]

Got one for my Rico Graftonite B5 on my early 1950's Beaugnier Vito bari. Played OK, a bit diff. Used it maybe 6 years ago, playing at store fronts traditional Christmas carols next to a Salvation Army donation kettle.

Good was I didn't have to wet it to play.

 

[lydian]

FWIW, Bari is far and away the worst synthetic I've ever played. They haven't improved one bit in 50 years.

 

[ESJohn]

It's not arriving until Tuesday, so I stopped at a local music shop this afternoon and asked if they had any cane reeds.
They had one brand--RiYin. Never heard of them in my life, but he sold them for $3 individually, so I purchased two until the Bari arrives.
They also had a beautiful Cannonball alto sax for sale at $600. Very lovely to behold. Good thing I had my wife with me, or I would have succumbed.

 

[ghostler]

They had one brand--RiYin. Never heard of them in my life, but he sold them for $3 individually, so I purchased two until the Bari arrives.

I bought a few packages of 10 of those reeds for under $10 with free shipping on EBay. They'll play, a so-so reed.

They also had a beautiful Cannonball alto sax for sale at $600. Very lovely to behold. Good thing I had my wife with me, or I would have succumbed.

Yes, they may not respond well to, "Look what followed me home."

 

[ESJohn]

I got the reed this evening and gave a quick 15 minute run-through. My initial reaction leans slightly towards positive. Attached to my 5C*, it presented no resistance to being played. I did notice a little wobble on low Bb, and on occasion low C. Beginning with middle A a few times seemed to require some adjustment, as well.
I am just getting back to playing the sax so some of that could be my embouchure. I'm going to keep working with it over the next few weeks. I'll post another one or two comments as I gain experience.

 

[ghostler]

In my personal experience, my Bari bari reed is not a bad bari reed. As you gain experience, it will interesting to hear what is your impression of it.

They can be tweaked, too with sandpaper and reed trimmer, for those bold enough to try.

IMO may make it better tailored to one's taste. But again, YMMV Your mileage may vary (do this at your own risk.)

 

[lydian]

Glad you like it. For me it was rubbery feeling, buzzy and had bad intonation. It really only worked well in a very narrow range and just felt weird. By contrast, Legere feels and responds much closer to cane and is vastly superior to Bari in every way. I highly recommend giving Legere a try sometime so you can experience the difference between a good and bad synthetic.

And to Ghostler's point, bad reeds are much more forgiving on lower instruments like bari, so might be tolerable there. But for me on tenor, Bari brand was an awful experience. It was also a painful experience since they pinched my bottom lip until it bled.

 

[ghostler]

And to Ghostler's point, bad reeds are much more forgiving on lower instruments like bari, so might be tolerable there.

Actually, I have been buying brand name cane reeds for the bari, because not just any reed works.

I kid about it, but I have tried those bargain reeds (10 for $8 w/free shipping) with funny characters matching those on packaged fireworks with ratings not in common reed strength charts.

I've had better luck with my alto sax.

Recently I bought 2 boxes of 25 each Rico orange box in 1.5, because I use a wider tip D'addario Rico Royal B5 Graftonite mouthpiece.

However, I bought the proper strength Bari artificial reed, hence why it works.

But for me on tenor, Bari brand was an awful experience. It was also a painful experience since they pinched my bottom lip until it bled.

There is something wrong if you need bite pressure great enough to cut your bottom lip. I suspect the reed you were using was too hard or strong for your needs.

It should be no different in strength than for a cane reed, except you do not need to wet it.

Also given your embouchure and current mouthpiece, may be cut in a manner that certain reed geometries work better than others.

I found for example, that my Rico Graftonite C5 tenor mouthpiece did not like tenor reeds like my other tenor mouthpieces. But I slapped a baritone reed on it. Now it worked.

Apparently given my embouchure on it, its lay table was cut in a manner that the longer cut baritone reed was a better fit.

I guess some have a better suited embouchure for the Graftonite C5 than I.

Also, there is sax playing folklore that beginners use soft reeds, pros use hard.

If one uses wider tip gap jazz mouthpieces, these use softer reeds because the reed tip travels a greater distance, needs the flexibility.

One selects the reed strength given the mouthpiece and embouchure. Everyone's mouth is different.

 

[lydian]

There is something wrong if you need bite pressure great enough to cut your bottom lip. I suspect the reed you were using was too hard or strong for your needs.

It should be no different in strength than for a cane reed, except you do not need to wet it.

Also given your embouchure and current mouthpiece, may be cut in a manner that certain reed geometries work better than others.

If one uses wider tip gap jazz mouthpieces, these use softer reeds because the reed tip travels a greater distance, needs the flexibility.

One selects the reed strength given the mouthpiece and embouchure. Everyone's mouth is different.

Not a matter of strength or embouchure, but likely geometry as you said. The sharper edges of the 2.5 Bari (same strength I play on cane) would slightly pinch both sides of my lip between the reed and rails of my very open, and quite narrow #9 metal mouthpiece. Embouchure pressure was the same as cane, as was the resistance, give or take. This never happens with cane or Legere. I attempted to smooth the edges with sandpaper, but that didn't really help. But this is going back to the last time I played Bari for any significant amount of time, which was in the late 1970s. I didn't try very hard to diagnose or work around it at the time. I just cut my losses and moved on. Last time I tried one was last year, but not for more than a few minutes. I could tell immediately that they hadn't changed at all.

In any case, if it works for you at that extremely low strength, then it works. Can't argue with success.

I really wish Bari did work for me because of the much lower price, but they don't.

 

[ghostler]

I really wish Bari did work for me because of the much lower price, but they don't.

As you have already alluded to, nice things aren't always available at low cost, inasmuch as we'd like them to be.

This I why I no longer buy bargain reeds off the Internet. It was a nice experiment, but those brands worthy to restock are no longer sold.

Since I use softer reeds (have a clipper to "set my strength"), they wear out quicker. I used the Bari for outdoor Winter play, used it for a season, but now sits idle in its holder.

I rely on cane reeds because it is easy to sound consistent with them.

Several years ago I bought a generic black synthetic reed for $4 for my alto. It was a waste of money. The plastic was not well suited for the application.

 

[lydian]

I have wasted so much money on all sorts of reeds trying to save a few bucks, sorry, quid. Name brand cane is still the way. But Legere is a close second. Like you, I only resort to synthetic in a few specific situations, like playing outdoors or on an infrequently used double where cane would dry out.

 

[ESJohn]

I should explain that the reason I wanted to try a synthetic was due to the fact that I am trying to lower the risk of bacterial infections that could be detrimental to my new heart valve. It's the first experience with a synthetic. I certainly not opposed to trading up to a Legere at some point.
Agree wholeheartedly with Ghostler about purchasing the cane reeds on the cheap. Of the two that I purchased over the weekend, one was bad and one was only adequate. I was disappointed that this otherwise quality music shop would not have any name brands available.

 

[ghostler]

I should explain that the reason I wanted to try a synthetic was due to the fact that I am trying to lower the risk of bacterial infections that could be detrimental to my new heart valve. It's the first experience with a synthetic. I certainly not opposed to trading up to a Legere at some point.

The wife had successful heart transplant surgery, so we know about cleanliness. Just exercise a little more care with the cane. Use decent reed holders, rotate reeds so they fully dry to mitigate fungal and bacterial growth.

Don't leave a reed parked on the mouthpiece stored in your case. After play before putting back in case, dry innards of mouthpiece with a cloth.

Doesn't need to be "bubble clean".

Agree wholeheartedly with Ghostler about purchasing the cane reeds on the cheap. Of the two that I purchased over the weekend, one was bad and one was only adequate. I was disappointed that this otherwise quality music shop would not have any name brands available.

US supply chain has been disrupted so overseas goods especially quality things are affected. IMO it won't get any better with the new tariffs, expect shortages and escalating prices.