Problems with Alexander classique

[duckmaster1089]

Ok, i ordered a 30 something box of 1o alexander classique 3.5 from rebertos music website a month ago. I thought they were crap. Some were cut, well all f***ed up. The cane looked weird, and were all around not up to par. The month before i ordered a set of 5, 3 streanght reeds from wwbw, and the were great, but to soft. Does anyone else have problems with these reeds? Cuz im not willing to dump 30 bucks down the drain agiain till i get feedback. ty

[Hurling Frootmig]

Reeds are mechanically cut so some variance is to be expected. I remember the reeds of my youth to be much better than what is out now and my review of vintage reeds shows that while there were still reeds that were cut funny the percentage seemed lower.

Alexander's are a nice reed that are well made. I play them and Hemke's most of the time but have found that I like Vandoren ZZ's best on my Link.

My advice to you as a younger player would be to pick up a copy of "The Art of Saxophone" by Larry Teal. It's probably the best Saxophone book in terms of instruction that you will find. The book contains a section on reeds and how to adjust them. The folks that make Reed-Mate's also have a book out on adjusting reeds. I have them both and refer back to them from time to time. The Teal book covers many more topics and is great to review on a regular basis.

Learning how to adjust reeds will allow you to get more playable reeds out of every box.

[Beowulfmk]

I had similar experience. My classiques had uneven cut on the tip. Right side of the end tip was slightly longer than the left side. So when I put reed on the mouthpiece, classiques weren't perfectly aligned with my mpcs' tips. This is not my mpc problem since all my mpcs experience similar problem with classique. Other than that, classiques warped after using it for a week.

http://saxontheweb.myforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=14504

Scroll down until you see my post. Tom Alexander advised that I need to use a need knife and a little sandpaper. Alexander costs much more than say, Rico Royal, and I expected little better quality. But anyway, I just switched back to Lavoz, and I practice with Fibracell.

[wianno]

I'm an amateur player. I've been using Alexander reeds for well over a year, first Superials, then Classiques, which work better for me on my vintage Buescher alto mpc.

I break them in five at a time as recommended by Alexander and care for them by a soaking them in water for about 30 seconds before playing and washing and drying them after use. I store them in LaVoz reed holders in a plastic box that is not airtight. No warping has been observed. I mark each reed with an indelible ink pen with a letter ID and the date use started. I maintain a spreadsheet and record impressions about reed and my playing performance (I rotate reed use among the five active ones.) I've noticed that if I've had a performance problem with a reed on a given day, it does not repeat the next time I use it, so I attribute the problem to the way it was set or to a bad day with my embouchure.

Unless I have damaged a reed by mishandling it, performance of Alexander reeds in my instance has been flawless. None have required sanding or adjustment. I get about three months use from a set of five reeds (daily use of one for about two hours), then replace them regardless of performance. But I can't seem to throw them out. Great product.

JD

[Sigmund451]

Never had a problem with an Alexander that I didnt cause. You may want to see if you can email the company. Tom is trying hard to turn out a good product. I just wish it could be done for less cash! They may be interested in helping you out to see the problem for themselves...Cant hurt to try.

[Vortex]

It might look messed up but does it play all right?

[Roger Aldridge]

Classique is my reed of choice. I use them on all of my horns. Overall, their quality is consistently good and most reeds play superbly right out of the box. However, from time to time I'll get a box that's not as good as what I've come to expect. It may be a seasonal thing with the naturally grown cane. Whenever I start to worry about Classiques regarding a particular box the next box I get usually hits the ball out of the park.

[singlereed]

I have had poor boxes of all makes I have tried, including Alexanders. I reckon their machinery goes out of alignment and they still sell the reeds anyway. I have to say, i find Vandorens more consistent at the moment.

[duckmaster1089]

VAndoeren, are not consistent! thats why i was trying alxanders in the first place. U get like 3 reeds to a box on vandoren. i need to find a consistent band.

[Hurling Frootmig]

My advice to you as a younger player would be to pick up a copy of "The Art of Saxophone" by Larry Teal. It's probably the best Saxophone book in terms of instruction that you will find. The book contains a section on reeds and how to adjust them. The folks that make Reed-Mate's also have a book out on adjusting reeds. I have them both and refer back to them from time to time. The Teal book covers many more topics and is great to review on a regular basis.

Learning how to adjust reeds will allow you to get more playable reeds out of every box.

My advice still stands.

You can slap and go with reeds and learn to deal with it or you can learn to adjust your reeds to what you are looking for in them.

[WG]

I'm on my sixth tin. No problems here. Quite possibly the best reed on the face of the planet.

[singlereed]

Duckmaster proves my point; I have had a lot of poor Alexanders reeds in several tins yet my last few boxes of Vandoren have been very good. I think it has to do with the quality control which seems to go up and down for all manufacturers - I have tried quite a few over the last 5 years or so and have yet to find any that consistently delivers the goods. One's experience will depend on the batches that your supplier has at the moment and I suppose if you buy one bad box, there's every chance the next one will be poor as well, being from the same batch. Meanwhile, maybe the maker gets their act together and the box someone else buys in a different place is OK. I do know a few pros who have been totally exasperated with Vandoren and have switched to Alexanders, but strangely, I've found the Vandorens I bought recently have been good. I'm still in the market for a good classical reed and have been quite excited by the first few I have tried from AW in Germany see http://www.aw-reeds.com - I have been using the soprano ones. So far they offer a classical soprano reed, and a classical and a jazz alto reed only, their other lines are all for various clarinets. I will give them a more serious trial, but so far I am very impressed.

[singlereed]

Stop press, the AW website seems to have gone a bit pear-shaped...Hopefully they'll get it back and running soon...The reeds are also on sale at www.myatt.co.uk