[dirty]

For the last few months, I have been using LaVoz Medium reeds on tenor with my Link 8 with great results. Lately, though, they have felt very buzzy and bright, with almost no resistance. They close up when I play loud or high, and they squeak like you wouldn't believe.

Has anyone else had problems with LaVoz lately, or is this just an issue with the weather (we're getting into the rainy, wet season here in California) and with me?

Trouble is, money is tight (college student) and I just bought a box of Mediums. Is there anything I should keep in mind that might help me make this box useful, or should I just set it aside for another time on another mouthpiece?

 

[Martinman]

You could let them sit for a few weeks and buy a new box of a harder strength, then go back to these later, if you can afford another box.

Are these from the white box or the brown one? Were the boxes you had before brown or white?

 

[dirty]

I've only used the white boxes.

 

[blackfrancis]

A reed clipper may help some- easy on the budget and right handy to have aruond.

 

[asaxman]

IMO, La Voz, and Rico reeds have gone to hell lately!

 

[dirty]

IMO, La Voz, and Rico reeds have gone to hell lately!

That's what I hear, but the La Voz Mediums (all in the new packaging) have been treating me so well until these last few weeks!

blackfrancis, I think I might take your advice and invest in a reed clipper. It would be a shame to have all these reeds just sitting around.

 

[Martinman]

That's what I hear, but the La Voz Mediums (all in the new packaging) have been treating me so well until these last few weeks!

blackfrancis, I think I might take your advice and invest in a reed clipper. It would be a shame to have all these reeds just sitting around.

I thought the white boxes were the old packaging?

How much does a reed clipper cost though? Probably more than buying a new box of reeds, unless you want one handy.

 

[asaxman]

The reed trimmer is a short- term fix, to get a few more hours out of a reed.

 

[dirty]

I thought the white boxes were the old packaging?

How much does a reed clipper cost though? Probably more than buying a new box of reeds, unless you want one handy.

A reed clipper, however, will last about as long as I can go without losing it. 10 reeds will last me two months.

I feel like it might be something that I can take with me beyond this specific problem.

 

[Martinman]

A reed clipper, however, will last about as long as I can go without losing it. 10 reeds will last me two months.

I feel like it might be something that I can take with me beyond this specific problem.

Good point.

 

[Lenny]

I hate reed clippers and never found the reeds play well , but i love burning reeds and feel that it seems to do something to the tip that makes the high notes more responsive.
You can buy a great little very cheap metal template from Runyon for all four reed sizes that you can use to burn the tips. I like it alot.

I'm not a professional though, so take my experience with a grain of salt.

 

[Martinman]

Dirty, did you ever try the MHs?

I am having the same problem now with my La Voz mediums on alto. I break them in using the Alexander method, and then they last me about 2-4 two and a half hour practice sessions before going Kaput. It might be because I am working altissimo extra hard, but I don't know.

 

[dirty]

I was in the middle of a box when this problem started. I've since gotten used to the softer Mediums and think I'll stick with them. I'm trying to be less reed picky.

 

[hgiles]

A reed clipper, however, will last about as long as I can go without losing it. 10 reeds will last me two months.

I feel like it might be something that I can take with me beyond this specific problem.

Damn! 10 good reeds will last me a year! I put the good ones in the case and practice on the bad ones at home, sometimes the bad, stiff ones loosen up and get promoted to the case.

I am of the mindset, that if you buy the reeds at the right strength then you have to do very little to them to get them to play and they will last you a good long while. Too often we're tempted to buy reeds that are too stiff, then we complain that none of them will play right!

 

[Hurling Frootmig]

As crazy as it sounds I believe that today's bad reed can be tomorrow's good reed (provided it is in good shape). Even though I've moved back to cane there are times when I am very tempted to break back out the fibracells.

I think the most important thing with reeds is the prep. For some guys that is just putting it on the mouthpiece. I prefer to sand the vamp and the back of the reed with 400 or finer sandpaper. I also generally only buy plain old rico's anymore and consider them as reed blanks.

 

[Fell Boyzs]

Sometimes moving the reed down a millimeter or so makes the reed a little harder to vibrate, and thus give the essence of a harder reed. Somethimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Good luck!

-Zach

 

[LateNiteSax]

go for the Med hards, and sand them down a hair to your liking by moving the heart of the reed BACK a drop, thereby giving you something in between a med and a med-hard. You will get WAY more reeds to play out of a box- maybe 8 or 9 instead of 3 or 4- if you take a few seconds to do this with 220 wet or dry sandpaper.

 

[bLu3sU3d3]

For the last few months, I have been using LaVoz Medium reeds on tenor with my Link 8 with great results. Lately, though, they have felt very buzzy and bright, with almost no resistance. They close up when I play loud or high, and they squeak like you wouldn't believe.

Has anyone else had problems with LaVoz lately, or is this just an issue with the weather (we're getting into the rainy, wet season here in California) and with me?

Trouble is, money is tight (college student) and I just bought a box of Mediums. Is there anything I should keep in mind that might help me make this box useful, or should I just set it aside for another time on another mouthpiece?

Bro I have a few tricks that might help you, try it~ =)

After you position the reeed on to the mouthpiece tip to tip, shift the reed slightly upwards, meaning that the reed protrude out of the mpc tip but just a BIT. This becomes more of a 'harder' reed and you can play as usual. What you are doing is you are causing the tip of the mpc to vibrate against a harder part of the reed. You saved money in this way. Its almost the same of buying MH la voz.

Second, you can also adjust of the ligature to make the reed slightly 'harder'.
If you shift the ligature towards you (mpc facing you) just by a bit, you are restricting the reeds to vibrate more then usually, so there's a bit of 'resistance' when u play.

Both methods works. Its from my exprience. I just learnt the ligature trick from a book.