OK. Well, to start off with I`ve been playing the b flat clarinet for four years now and just a few days ago I called the music store to order new reeds. I asked the lady if she could mail me 3 5 1/2 reeds which she said she could do, but she asked me why I needed such hard reeds. I told her that I`d been playing for awile and thatI guess I just moved up over time. "Well", she said, "even symphony players don`t need reeds that hard. Are you using a beginner clarinet?" Honestly, I didn`t know so I told her to hold the reeds for a few days until I thought about it for awile. I was wondering if anyone could help me out with this. Right now I use a clarinet that I got used from a guy that himself got it used, so I don`t know how old it is. All I know is that on the bell it says it`s a Special 100 Signet Selmer and on the mouth piece it says Selmer and under that`s HS*. Any information you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated.

which reed brand do you use cos what the strengths actually are vary from brand to brand(i measure against vandoren). if you take grades which grade are you? how long do you think you`ll be clarinet for? (realisticly) cos u dont want to spend lots of money on an expensive clarinet and then not use it very much. i think that selmer signets are good, i`m not sure i have a buffet r13 which is a very good proffesional clarinet, i recommend it. do u hav a teacher? cos i have heard that very hard reeds might give like bad intonation or squeks.

I play on a vandoren v12 4 reed...works well for me...been playing a little over 3 years and im in my HS symphonic band...i don`t know about your situation tho! sorry

ok i been playing the clarinet for 7 years now im in a high school band i am really good with clarinets and i just want to say stick with 2 1/2 reeds dont go any higher because it tends to make you clarinet squeak and in my opinion when you said for a topic that if you need a new clarinet? well ill tell you this is your clarinet brand name called Artly? if it is those are the worst brand of clarinets. GET a NEW ONE if you have an artly!!!!they suck and usually clarinets over four or five years get old. I got a new clarinet on m 5th year playng ;-) i hope i helped you with some tips

oh yea and one more thing to the best reeds are called ROYAL RICCO 2 1/2 " reeds

I`ve been playing for 10 years, and I think that if your current setup is working well for you, then you should stick with it for now.
A harder reed will not neccessarily make you squeak. I play on a size 3 1/2, sometimes 4 (3 1/2 tends to be unreliable in the upper altissimo register), and I almost never squeak. One major adavantage of a harder reed is that they will help with your high notes.
Finally, Rico`s Grand Concert (Select or Evolution) reeds are HEAPS better than Rico Royals. I use them.

hey don`t any of you guys use vandoren? ricos are okay but vandoren are the best!

I find that Vandorens are very unreliable in quality, and they take too long to break in.

i ethink that vandorens are the best, i use size 3 or sometimes 3 1/2. i think that vandorens work better for the altissimo reguster.

Regarding the strength of reeds, it greatly depends upon the mouthpiece you have. Some require a strong reed others a medium or soft reed. If you visit the vandoren web site there are tables indicating their different types of mouthpieces and what reed strength they recommend and a comparison chart for the reeds brands available. But basically it is down to personal preferences.

I`ve been playing the clarinet for about 6 1/2 years now, and as you become a better player you should start using a harder reed. Most professional players use about a 4 to 4 1/2 size/grade reed. As far a brands go, I use mitchell lurie size 4 1/2. I`ve used Vandourn several times, and I`ve found that unless you use a file to file down the base of the reed they tend to be harder to break-in. Both Mitchell lurie and Vandourn are good brands though. As far as clarinets, the clarinet I consider to be the best there is is the R-13 buffet. They are about 2,700 dollars, so unless you plan to continue playing as a professional or even in college, I wouldn`t recommend buying this clarinet just for financial reasons. Buffet, Yamaha, and Slemer are some of the best brands to buy. A lot of the time you can imprive the quality of playing just by buying a better mouth piece. Vandourn makes a couple that are good. I highly reccommend buying a new mouth piece if you are still playing on the one that was issued with the clarinet. those are the cheap ones they put in the case to sell with the instument. other than that, I don`t know what else to tell you. Good luck!!

Just because your clarinet is old it doesn`t mean you must have a new one. Is it broken, behaving strange or something like that? If it isn`t I don`t think you have to worry.

I own and play three Selmer Signets. They are fine instruments for the money. You are definitely playing on reeds that are too hard. Also, your Selmer HS mouthpiece is not a good choice, they are hard to blow. I almost quit clarinet from frustration till I got rid of the hard blowing HS and bought a free blowing mouthpiece. Take your clarinet to a good music store and ask to try several brands of free-blowing mouthpieces. You`ll be amazed at the difference. I never go higher than a Vandoren 3 reed and can hit any note. Hard reeds cause the lower registers to lose tone quality.

Ask a teacher. I have played clarinet for six years. I play on a plastic yamaha. Most people would think that a piece of junk if I was going professional. But I have better intonation than most of the kids with buffets. It is all in your mouth. There is no best brand of reed of clarinet, although there are some that are definately preferred by the majority. I am principle of mu symphoy section and I combine a cheap and old clarinet with 3 and a half vandoren reeds. It is all about you and your abilities.

JMB, sorry to disagree. It is not all about your abilities. If it were only about abilities, everyone would be playing on plastic clarinets. I remember from high school some people who got unusually good sounds from plastic instruments, but in the long run could not compete sound and projection wise with those in the same skill level with a wooden clarinet.