Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2004-03-17 22:42
Like the doctor I was of the impression that very few insect pests attack reed cane. It is more a issue of whether any preservatives have been used to stop mould etc. developing after manufacture. Here are some personal observations.
Some reeds seem to have preservative impregnated all the way through the fibres. On rare occasions I have heard people complain of a reaction, usually from American reeds. Some reeds do not seem to have any preservative at all.
Reeds Australia products, I use Vintage myself, appear to be preservative free. They will get a bit mouldy after use if they are not dried and stored correctly. The other products in the range, ie. Studio and Studio Plus, behave similarly. They have a sort of a sweet taste when they come out of the box.
Of the Vandoren's the saxophone V16 does not appear to have any preservative. These reeds, straight out of the poly-propylene wrapper, are often discoloured with what appears to be water damage. The blue box and Java probably don't have any, or very little, sinister additions. They are fairly bland to the taste.
I personally use Lavoz reeds on saxophone and find these to be the least tainted of the Rico products. I would say that the Rico Royal was the most tainted. These babies are so perfect on the flat side that they seem to have been bleached. They have a bitter taste when first put in the mouth which I tend to think comes from some sort of additive.
I think the organically grown claim is a whole lot of rubbish, just marketing hype. Arundo donax grows wild, so much so that in some countries it is a feral pest. This sort of cane is not subject to a whole lot of pest problems, it grows just like grass. As for fertilisation, or nitrogenisation, I am not sure but I know of an old guy locally who had a patch of arundo donax growing at the end of his back yard and he used to make his own bassoon, sax and clarinet reeds. He did this for years and it was free and he did nothing except cut it down and dry it. I tried some of his bassoon reeds and they worked as well as any others.
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