Author: MDW
Date: 2007-06-25 01:51
I have made my own reeds (never was able to get it down fast, but I really did try) and made some excellent ones (patting self on back), but had to give it up due to pain in the base of my thumbs. Holding anything for a half-hour (and sometimes less) causes pain and a weak feeling. This has been going on for yrs, and actually started to be noticeable about 25 yrs ago in college (so now you know my approximate age).
Anyway, I thought I'd put in my opinion about reeds. I teach privately, and usually start them on Emerald med soft. Then get them to try something with a bit more quality, like GoodToneGuild or Gower. I have one jr high student that is hooked on Jones reeds, and she sounds pretty good on them. Another prefers Lesher, and she's doing well with them. A couple others get reeds through their band teacher ($5 ea!) and they seem pretty good, too, so why not let them use what is cost effective until they realy get to the point where they WANT to sound better and try a quality product.
I have been using GTG myself the last 3 yrs and have been pretty satisfied with them. I'm now on a subscription in which I receive 2 reeds per month. I have had some excellent reeds from GTG, and Ms. Cassell has gone out of her way to provide my style and to meet my particular needs. While I am in general satisfied, I still get one here and there that just do not work for me. Oh, they'll play okay, and not bad enough to send back, but sometimes it's the resonance factor, or dynamic contrast that isn't great.
My $0.02
MDW
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