Reeds Reed selection

[tvj]

I'm buying a baritone sax (See my introduction thread), and the shop I'm buying it from recommended I use synthetic reeds instead of ordinary bamboo reeds.
Does anyone know some pros/cons of these sort of reeds or even have some recommendations on them?

 

[spike]

Hi TVJ,
welcome to the forum,
a bit of botanical fluff for starters - "ordinary bamboo reeds" - poor old "arundo donax", allways getting called a bamboo, when it actually belongs to the grass family, mine's coming up quite well this year but due to the long winter it probably won't grow big enough to make reeds out of.

I've played "fibracells" on and off for a coupl'a years, mostly on tenor, due to a contact irritation on my lower lip, I really like 'em, they're very convenient when you find the one that's right for you, they play straight out the box, last almost forever and only deteriorate slightly in the beginning. And last but not least you save a bunch of bucks.

Having said that - I do prefer to have a piece of natural organic fibres and cells on the mouthpiece whenever possible, I don't honetly know how to explain it, but the real thing just seems to be a little more responsive and flexible. I just seem to be able to get more sound and nuances and frequencies and harmonics and feel out of a dried up piece of wood.

My best recommendation would be to try the "Fibracells" and "Legeres" they seem to be the most widely used.
There are others but imho they really are the most natural-like of the plastic ice cream spoon reed varieties.

Last year at a workshop I asked Evan Tate for his thoughts on synthetic reeds, and he told me he used 'em for a while during his time studying with Joe Allard and was, at first very happy with the results. One day he had a lesson with Joe and told him about the new plastic reeds he was using. Joe appeared to be extremely interested and asked Evan to show him the one he was using. Joe took it in his hand and without even examining it smashed it into the music stand and said " okay, now we'll learn to play saxophone properly". Apart from that little story Evan's own opinion was that synthetic reeds can damage the embouchure and that you can play with a much better feel with normal reeds.

There are pros out there who use 'em all the time and funnily enough a lot of them seem to be baritone players, it's really down to trying 'em out and do what's good for you.
If it wasn't for my recurring contact irritation i personally wouldn't use 'em at all.

 

[spike]

Hi Ken,
Equisetum hyemale (Dutch Rush) - I think I've seen it advertised on some woodwind dealers' internet sites, no idea where it grows, I've always used the cardboard sand grain nail file variety, Vandooren do make a very good copy out of glass if you're into noble saxophone accessories, comes in a black box, tres chic at 49 Uhu's a throw. My universal medication recommendation would be Becks, (Hopus-Cockerus Verdure).

No but the cardboard nail files, I've been using those for years and years, together with an old piece of wood that I've sanded down flat makes the perfect reed tuning kit.

I got my Arundo Donax a few years ago as a birthday present from my neighbour, a landscape gardner, I'll ask him what he knows about Dutch Rush, sounds like an epidemic illness that affects alpine ponies, especially in Latin.

 

[Bobby G]

Don't forget your ATF Ken. Have you got a reed cutter?

Any thoughts on reed cutters? Are they worth the moolah?

 

[rebellion117]

At 1:42:47 PM 07/06/06, TVJ wrote:
I'm buying a baritone sax (See my introduction thread), and the shop I'm buying it from recommended I use synthetic reeds instead of ordinary bamboo reeds.
Does anyone know some pros/cons of these sort of reeds or even have some recommendations on them?

I'm a bari player, and I use both synthetic and cane reeds. For blues and rock gigs, I use a BARI* (pronouced bari-star) medium, which gives me a bright, fat, edgy sound. I also use La Voz medium hards, which are just a bit richer than the BARI*. When I was in high school, I marched with a Fibracell (medium, I think), which projects quite nicely and has a very compact sound. When I'm playing in a big band, I use Alexander D.C. Superial 3.5's, which give me a nice, smooth but ever-so-slightly growly sound that's vaguely reminiscent of Gerry Mulligan. I've also played big band gigs on Vandoren ZZ 3.5's and even the occasional Vandoren blue box 3.5. The blue box has a smooth but compact sound, and the ZZ is somewhat of a mix between the Alexander D.C. and the blue box.

Note that I use(d) all of these reeds with with varying amounts of modification and adjustment on an Otto Link Super ToneMaster 6*. Take the strengths themselves with a grain of salt, as your mouthpiece probably has a different tip opening than mine.

Cory

 

[tvj]

Hey Spike, sorry to have offended your botanical pastimes😛

But the gist of it is to select the reed type that fits whatever I am to play. That should work.