Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2004-04-30 22:43
I just put in another reed order yesterday, and I got to wondering, how long should an oboe reed last, on average?
I believe I read somewhere that soft reeds give up the ghost sooner than harder ones, but I seem to be running through them pretty fast. I play a couple of hours a day, and I have moved up to "regular" strength reeds (although I do adjust some of them softer). But still, I find that after a couple of weeks on one reed, I need to switch to another one. Is this normal?
I also have read that one is supposed to "rotate" reeds -- i.e., not use the same one day in and day out. Does this actually prolong reed life, or just make it seem like they are lasting longer?
It seems that finding a reed I really like is rather like playing the lottery. And for the past several months, my idea about what constitutes a "good" reed has been pretty much in a constant state of flux. So if I ought to have, say, four functional reeds at my disposal at any given time, I am going to have to buy an awful lot of reeds.
I don't think I'm quite at the point yet where I want to start making my own, but is that the ultimate solution?
Susan
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