Vandoren

File:Vandoren Paris.jpg

Vandoren is a well known manufacturer of mouthpieces and reeds for woodwind instruments. Vandoren's products are used by professionals and amateurs around the world.

History

Since 1905, the Van Doren family has been making reeds and mouthpieces. It all began with Eugene Van Doren, who was a clarinetist at the Paris Opera during the Belle Epoque at the end of the 19th century. It was a time when wind players made their own reeds, with greater or lesser degrees of success. Eugene Van Doren must have had the knack: his reeds sounded so good that his colleagues prevailed upon him to sell some of them.

Making reeds by hand is a long and tedious business. In order to save time, Eugene, a skillful and gifted engineer, designed and built a special reed-making machine, treadle-operated in the same way as a sewing machine. The reeds he made with this machine in the dining room of his home in the rue Andre del Sarte were immediately successful, and in 1905 (the year his son was born) he founded a reedmaking business at 51 rue Lepic, which soon took up more of his time than playing clarinet.

His son Robert also studied clarinet, graduating from the Paris Conservatoire. He considered a performing career, and in 1928 left France for a year-long tour of the United States during which he drew attention for the beauty of his tone. He was one of the first French clarinetists to perform as a soloist at Radio City Music Hall in New York. It was during this tour that American musicians first discovered Vandoren reeds, and since then their popularity in the United States has skyrocketed.

As the company grew, Robert Van Doren, like his father, found himself devoting more time to making reeds than to his performing career. He soon took over management of the company and in 1935 bought a vacant lot at 56 rue Lepic, Vandoren's present address. It was about this time than Robert Van Doren started selling a mouthpiece he has developed, the famous 5RV still so popular with professional musicians today.

In 1967, Robert's son Bernard, blessed with his grandfather's mechanical genius, joined the company, bringing a third generation into the family business. A range of mouthpieces was developed under his guidance, the basic model being the B45, which soon became as familiar as the 5RV. Applying the same manufacturing principles as his father and grandfather, Bernard Van Doren developed highly sophisticated machines which have made it possible to reduce manufacturing tolerances to less than one hundredth of a millimeter while allowing output to increase tenfold.

For several years now, all of Vandoren's manufacturing facilities have been maintained in supervised hygrometric conditions. This revolutionary advance, combined with refined grading techniques, allows continued improvement in selection by strength and optimization of product quality. In order to preserve this quality, Vandoren developed factory fresh Flow Pack packaging that maintains reeds as fresh as if just picked from the factory.

The factory is situated in Bormes-Les-Mimosas[1] in the south of France, near the reed fields.

• information from "A Culture of Mouthpieces and Reeds."

Mouthpieces

The mouthpiece begins with a "blank." These blanks are molded from an extremely hard material obtained from rubber, called ebonite.

The outside shaping of the mouthpiece is done on an automatic forming lathe specially designed for Vandoren[2]. It is crucial to locate the exact center of the mouthpiece when using the lathe. Each model is individually checked for appearance and precise dimensions following each step. Each mouthpiece is polished then the grinding of the facing begins. From this moment forward, the mouthpieces are sorted into families. Next, the clarinet mouthpieces receive their cork. Carefully selected cork is used to ensure both durability and precision.

The final adjustment of the facing is done by staged diamond cutting tools. The tolerances of 4/10,000 of an inch (1/100mm) are so small that, to maintain precision, the table is not polished.

Each mouthpiece is hand finished at the baffle, walls, and tip rail.

• information from "A Culture of Mouthpieces and Reeds."

Ligatures

Vandoren V12 Reed and Optimum Ligature.

For a number of years, Vandoren have manufactured ligatures from the leather variety to the metal variety. Perhaps the most popular ligature is the Vandoren Optimum ligature that is available for all saxophones and clarinets.

Vandoren Reeds

Reeds are made from Arundo Donax which is also called "music cane" by the natives of Provence.

It takes four years to create reeds. Cane is grown from rhizomes, and in the first year the cane reaches its final size and diameter. At the end of the second year, after gaining its body and strength, it is ready for harvesting.

The cane is cut with shears designed to avoid bursting the fibers; it is cut by hand in the tradition of the old journeyman carpenters. The harvest is carried out while the moon is descending, when the sap is utterly still.

The cane is bundled and sent to Vandoren's protected and ventilated warehouse for processing. It is then stripped, cut into 6 foot sticks, and put out in the sun to take on that golden color that sometimes leaves brown marks. The cane is re-bundles and sent to Vandoren's protected and ventilated warehouse to dry for another two years before manufacture begins. Once the cane is ready for manufacture, the first cut is made. The first cut produces the rough shape in preparation for transformation into reeds. These rough shapes are beveled to an accuracy in the order of 4/10,000 of an inch (1/100mm).

No two pieces of cane can be identical due to the nature of this organic product. After the final inspection by trained craftsmen, the reed is stamped with the Vandoren logo and it strength. It is placed in a protective cover (which is recyclable) and then wrapped in a Flow Pack packaging.

• information from "A Culture of Mouthpieces and Reeds."

Clarinet Reeds

Traditional Clarinet reeds

Traditional reeds are the most widely played style of reed.[3] They are made with a tip thickness of 0.09 mm heel thickness of 2.8 mm. [4]

V12 reeds

Vandoren V12 reeds are produced from the thicker cane that is used to make saxophone reeds. At the tip, V12 reeds have a thickness of 0.10 mm, and at the heel they have a thickness of 3.15 mm. The longer pallet of this reed means that more of the reed is vibrating, resulting in a deeper/richer sound, and the thicker tip gives body to the attack.

56 rue Lepic reeds

The 56 rue Lepic reeds are named after the address of the Vandoren central offices on 56 rue Lepic, Paris. The 56 rue Lepic reeds come from thicker cane with a heel taper very similar to German-style reeds. At the tip, 56 rue Lepic reeds have a thickness of 0.11 mm, and at the heel they have a thickness of 3.25 mm. [5]

German reeds

Vandoren also manufactures reeds for the German system (Oehler) mouthpieces. The White Master and Black Master reeds are designed for German and Austrian clarinet players, respectively. Black masters have a larger and thicker cut than White Master reeds.

Saxophone reeds

Traditional Saxophone reeds

Traditionals feature the thinnest tip with the thickest heart, resulting in a full/dark sound.

JAVA Saxophone reeds

Java reeds are more flexible than Traditionals and V16s and vibrate on a long palette. This creates a brighter sound.

V16 Saxophone reeds

V16 reeds have a medium-thick heart (more than Java, but less than Traditionals), which give a deep/rich sound.

jaZZ Saxophone reeds

ZZ reeds combine the medium-thick heart, spine, and rounded tip of the V16 with the flexible palette of the JAVA reeds. This gives a colorful sound and quick response.

External links

• Vandoren company website