M Hemp Fiberreed vs. MS Onyx Fiberrreed?

[brother cavefish]

Hey Mell, which V16 mp did you use the rubber or metal i was pondering a metal one ,large chamber, T7 or T6

[Mel]

It is a rubber one.

[john]

Anybody have any experience adjusting and trimming a carbon fiber onyx reed? My two original soft onyx reeds are easy to blow. My one medium soft onyx reed needs some adjustment. The two soft onyx reeds that I got yesterday need adjustment. My reed wizard didn’t seem to do the job. I have the Reed Geek and today I’ll put the reed geek to the test. Or do I resort to Sand paper and Jack Hammer.?

[john]

Looks like the sand paper P1500 did the job. I attached the sand paper to my 30 year old rubber sanding block, a few swipes and I got a nice onyx reed. Good enough for government work.

[john]

there’s some info on the manufacturer’s site as well:

Working on Fiberreeds

[john]

Thanks Johnny
I saved the instructions in a folder on my desk top.

[brother cavefish]

Hey Johnny somewhere i read you found the carbon reed harder or softer than designated numbers

[john]

I chose the Onyx medium reed and find it plays just like my vandoren java #3.

[brother cavefish]

well i normally use a Java 2 or a V16 1.5— i got a soft, i was considering a med soft but went soft based on your findings , we will see, did you like it

[Keith Taylor]

Thought I’d report back here after having received my medium Carbon Onyx reed from Johnny and playing it for a few days. I – REALLY- like it.

Oddly, it’s not nearly as stiff as I remember the medium hemp reed being before I sanded on it some. And Johnny says the medium Carbon Onyx plays about like a #3 Java to him, but to me, it’s not that stiff. I said it’s about like a 2.5 or a little less. The lower register was a tougher than my Hemke reeds, but I’ve sanded down the back part of it a little as the website link Johnny linked to suggest and it seems a bit better now. That may just be due to me having gotten more use to it though.

Also, speaking of getting use to it. By the time I received the M Carbon Onyx I’d gotten kind of use to the MS Carbon Onyx after having been playing on it exclusively for the past couple of weeks. It did get much better for me, but still would close up on me when I pushed it – which I didn’t like. That’s not happening with the M Carbon Onyx though.

My one issues with them both is that they’re pretty bright sounding when I’ve grown to like a darker sound. But, I plan on seeing if I can darken it up some with a Rovner Dark ligature. The M Carbon Onyx feels good enough to me that I think I can be happy playing it daily, and just keep a few really good cane reeds on hand when I want to record something, as I still like the feel and sound of Hemke and ZZ Jazz reeds more.

The really cool thing here though is that the other day I stumbled upon a an old modern Otto Link Super Tone Master 6* that I played and immediately finally felt like I understood why they’re so liked and have been played by so many of the greats. The others I’d played before, all of which were brand new – sucked. Very stuffy and just blah to me. This one immediately got my attention. I think it’s likely cica 80’s because it looks as if it could be a vintage one, but it’s not. It’s been well used and has had some facing work done on it. It certainly is brighter than any other Link I’ve played so far.

So, my point behind sharing all that is that the M Carbon Onyx seems to play really well for me on it. My only complaint is the combination of it being a brighter sounding Link, combined with the brightness of the Carbon Onyx reed really makes it’s brighter than I’m use to right now. Thus being why I may try a Rovner Dark ligature to darken up the combo some.

I’m stoked that the mouthpiece has gotten me a little closer to that Dexter Gordon / Scott Hamilton / Aubra Graves sound. And I only paid $104 for it!

Happy Thanksgiving Y’all. And thank you for getting the reed to me in a timely manner again, Johnny. I’m super happy I went ahead and spent another $27.00 for it.

Cheers,

Keith

[Author]

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