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A Great Reed
Vandoren White Master reeds are specifically designed for German system clarinet mouthpieces, NOT Austrian style mouthpieces (use Vandoren Black Master) and NOT mouthpieces designed for French (Boehm) instruments. They do, however, work remarkably well on a wide variety of mouthpieces that they were never intended for. I purchased them initially to use with a Germany system G-clarinet (sometimes called a ?Turkish? clarinet) which came with a matching, long faced, mouthpiece. Although French style reeds worked on this they produced a stifled sound over the ?break? and in the upper register. The white master reeds are narrow in comparison and the centre ?crest? seems to reach closer to the tip. This gives more spring and facilitates a wonderful response, and allows great speed, when tonguing. I purchased soft (grade 2) reeds hoping that I would be able to emulate the ?Balkan? folk clarinet sound. What I discovered was that on the German mouthpiece I was able to produce a very acceptable classical tone as well - The added firmness of the crest helped address any flatness in the upper register. I then tried the reeds on French style mouthpieces and instrument ? a Selmer C85 120 and Yamaha 6c, Buffet Prestige clarinet ? although the reed looks very narrow and slightly short when on these I found that it worked wonderfully producing a very pure tone and great tonguing response. The upper register was easy to control and play in tune. In strength I felt that the White Master grade 2 reed was somewhere between a grade 2-2.5 Traditional Vandoren . The consistency between the 5 reeds I purchased was good ? they all played well. Finally, I tried them on the mouthpiece supplied with a Thomann Chalmeau and they produced a very pleasant sound and helped facilitate over-blowing to a high ?G? with ease ? well above the expected range for the instrument. This is a good product with a potential for use in many more applications than it was designed for ? I will now experiment with different strengths!
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