h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

... my clarinet teacher (who's a very erudite and actually almost famous clarinettist <biggrin) almost broke my clarinet. She doesn't have any corks between the joints, so if you let go of the bottom joint, the bottom joint and bell drop. Which they did, onto his solid pine floor.

Explain?

Ah, ok. They have a good reputation, but I've never tried them. What're they like?...

...ah... what you should do is write to Vandoren listing the instruments you play and saying you're interested in their reeds for a Bb clarinet and could you have a test sample. .. I don't know if it'd work.. I got a specially made two-reed test sample of V12 reeds from their UK representative. They may send you some if you ask. The V12s they make are lovely. I really like them.

Why doesn't your teacher have corks??

Erm... What are what like? I'm afraid I feel a bit in the dark here....

Yes yes, V12s... That's an idea, but first I would have to come up with an address... Again, I don't think that writing to Vandoren in France, or Vandoren in the UK, or Vandoren in China is going to do me much good... Suppose they'd have an address listed on their website??

nonono... my clarinet doesn't have corks.

Mitchell Lurie reeds!

Hmm... *hunts for a Vandoren US address*

btw, my clarinets have come back. ...the repairer I used is amazing! My clarinets are in the nicest condition I've ever seen a pair of R13s in. *happy*

*grin* I know a bassoonist who sends her bassoon all the way across the country for work.. Which I suppose isn't *that* unusual, but it seems odd to me, a poor clarinetist who can use people within an hour's drive...

I'm not sure what you mean by what're they like... They just *are*. *grin* I haven't spent much time on other clarinet reeds, unless you wanna count Rico when I started years and years ago... In which case, the Mitchell Luries are better. They respond well, I've never gotten a still-green box, they chip almost never, and at least three in a box of five are usually really decent. (Except for last summer, when *no one* had any decent reeds... Vandoren or Mitchell Lurie).

Okay, now you are going to explain how your clarinet stays together w/o corks. Is this an R13?--Because none of the ones *I* looked at *came* without corks...

.. strange creatures, Bassoonists.

Ah, ok.

Mnonono! It's the rosewood clarinet which has no corks. Or, it does.. but the corks are original, so they're somewhat wizened. There's cotton wrapped around them so that it doesn't totally fall apart, but the tenon joint in the middle won't hold any weight at all.

No, all three of my R13s have corks on the joints and on the keys.

Wizened old corks? Funny...


Can you actually *play* it like that (the rosewood clarinet)?

Well, yes.. that's what the cotton's there for. There's enough padding there to just about stop air leakage, but it doesn't support the weight of the lower half of the instrument, you see.

Unfortunately, the mouthpiece isn't great (old, chewed up wooden mouthpiece), and really /doesn't/ fit. Which is the only playing difficulty.

Does the cotton get wet?

Yes, the cotton does tend to get a little damp. .. only as much so as cork, though. And you can choose how tightly your joint's sealed with far more ease if you're using cotton, so - to some extent - you can stop water leakage.

*had fun earlier playing around with different mouthpiece combinations using cotton to make two rather differently bored clarinets fit each others mouthpieces*

Ah hah. *grin*