Jazz Is All
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 853
- Locality
- Barcelona, Spain
I just received a pack of 5 Lupifaro EVO reeds in the 3 hardness for Alto that I bought from Amazon Spain. I have Prime so the shipping was free even though they came from England via Royal Mail and then Spanish Correos. The price was much lower than the cost of VDs, Rico (D'addario), Rigotti, etc.I bought my alto reeds direct from Lupifaro on Facebook, just the normal jazz ones though. I don't know anything about the Evo's but the normal ones are great reeds. Contact them on Facebook and send a paypal payment, job done.
I got the EVO because I wanted a darkish sounding reed but that still has some punch which I gather (correctly or incorrectly) that the Classic ones don't have. I didn't get the Jazz ones because I already have a tone of Marcas, Francois Louis, and ZZ reeds that all are bright to one degree or another with the FLs being the brightest on my altos.
Well, let me tell you that I am totally stoked by how great these reeds are. I had played some Lupifaro tenor reeds several years ago and really liked them. However, when I tried to buy more I discovered that they were no longer being made. That was disappointing so I forgot about them. Now however, they have come back with Rigotti making the reeds for them, and they are even better than I had hoped for.
I just picked one of the five at random, sucked it for 30 seconds, liked the table side and put it on my Super Session E. I rarely soak a reed, even a new one, anymore and the already used dry ones only if the tip is wavy. My normal procedure anymore is just to suck a reed for about 45 seconds or until I start to gag, whichever comes first, and then put it on and play it straight off. Anyway, this new reed was a bit resistant and wouldn't play the low notes, so I took it off and, having already noticed by touch that the table side was somewhat rough, I rubbed it for about a minute on a piece of paper. Actually, it was the backside of a piece of fine wet-dry sandpaper that I have right at hand, but it's the same thing as a piece of computer paper really. I then did the same for just a few seconds on the top side from the beginning of the vamp down to the tip. Back on the mpc it was better but still a bit resistant and needed more air support which could mean to some people that it was a half hardness too hard. Not me however. I knew that being a new reed it just needed to have the fibers opened up a bit and that is achieved by simply wetting your thumb with spit and pressing down fairly hard on the reed from the vamp down to the tip a couple of times, so it flexes.
After that I started to play, and Viola, it was magnificently free blowing from top to bottom with a dark tone that is to die for and just what I had hoped to have on my new Couesnon Metropole alto. What a wonderful match this reed is with the SS and Couesnon. A setup made in heaven. Darkish, but not murky, muddy, stodgy, or dead in the least, like with some traditional middle-of-the-road reeds. Yet they are also free of the often too-bight edginess that an alto can have when played with many reeds on the brighter side of the spectrum. This is especially true in the upper range of the instrument.
So I am very please that I bought them and recommend Amazon as a source because the price is really low especially if you have Prime. I have to say that since the pandemic has forced me to stay home most all the time, except for forays to get food and pharmaceuticals, Amazon is my source for buying all sorts of things we need simply because they deliver right to my door. Being an old guy and that as mobile as I used to be, that is a godsend too because getting the car out of the garage and then having to search for and pay for parking to go shopping is now a total drag. I no longer take public transport because my legs hurt too much to walk to the bus stop or to the stores, and it is not safe due to contact with a crowd of other people.
Life has certainly changed drastically in just 11 months from what it had been for most of my life. Who would have imagined this? Certainly very few of us I reckon.