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For those people who play on a Fred Rast soloist, what reeds do you use for it? I ordered one, it should arrive later this week. I just need to know what reeds work particularly well for it.
Reeds for Rast soloist
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Thanks! I am definitely wanting the very live sound with the brighter overtones ala Kenny Garrett:blue boy said:
This isn't actually my first Rast mouthpiece. I got two early in the summer and tried to make them work, but I guess I didn't give them enough time. I sold them on ebay. Fred told me that he has learned a couple tricks to make them more powerful and reed friendly since then, so I'm really excited and hate that I have to wait a couple more days for it to arrive. Impatience: one of the many foibles of youth....
I was used to playing on small chamber/high baffle pieces, so the Rast soloist was a big change, too much for me to get used to at the time. I have figured out how to make a darker mouthpiece sound brighter since then, so it should be fine now. I will give the yellow tin superials a try. Right now all I have are fibracells 3 1/2 and 4, and java 3's, and a couple RJS 3s filed.
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I just talked to Fred, and he says it is finished, and he is going to play it over the next couple of days with different reeds, just to fine-tune it and make it as perfect as possible. He made mine slightly more lively and focused than he usually does, since that is the sound I'm after. I will get it on Thursday!
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the Rast Soloist arrived today, and it plays great! It is going to take some getting used to. I am having great success on it with java 3 reeds so far.
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It's not hard to blow, but you have to be mindful of tuning more. It's not as bad as a lakey though. The chamber doesn't look as large as the last ones a few months back, those ones looked somewhat taller, if that makes any sense. I am not going to let G.A.S. get me this time, I'm sticking with this and going to actually take to time to get used to it, which will take a while. This rast piece is the 4th or 5th mouthpiece I've played on this semester, and I'm driving my professor nuts. He yells at me to pick one and stick with it.
Java 3 reeds are somewhat soft reeds anyways (to me), or at least more flexible. My previous setup for lead alto included a lakey 5*3 and Fibracell Premiere 4 reeds. That was about a month ago, and since then I've been playing on a Vandoren Jumbo Java A45 with Fibracell 3.5. I can't play Fibracells with the Rast though, it just doesn't work right. Fred Rast plays one of these with a Java 3.
The mouthpiece seems to play better if you take more mouthpiece into the mouth. I put two patches on the beak, one to protect the mouthpiece, and the other cut short so I can learn to keep my teeth at a certain spot so I can learn to get comfortable playing with more mouthpiece in my mouth.
I am going to try and get some sound clips of me noodling around with it, probably next week.
Java 3 reeds are somewhat soft reeds anyways (to me), or at least more flexible. My previous setup for lead alto included a lakey 5*3 and Fibracell Premiere 4 reeds. That was about a month ago, and since then I've been playing on a Vandoren Jumbo Java A45 with Fibracell 3.5. I can't play Fibracells with the Rast though, it just doesn't work right. Fred Rast plays one of these with a Java 3.
The mouthpiece seems to play better if you take more mouthpiece into the mouth. I put two patches on the beak, one to protect the mouthpiece, and the other cut short so I can learn to keep my teeth at a certain spot so I can learn to get comfortable playing with more mouthpiece in my mouth.
I am going to try and get some sound clips of me noodling around with it, probably next week.
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