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Re: IYO, the best reeds that fit these descriptions? r/o +++

Author: Dutchy
Date: 2007-08-09 14:36

Goodtoneguild, Reedery, and Reedmaker reeds are not "mass produced" reeds--they're handmade reeds. Now, granted, they may make a lot more of them than a single oboist would ever need in a lifetime, but they're not "mass produced" in the sense that La Voz, Selmer, or Rico reeds are. They're not cranked out on an assembly line with one person doing only gouging, one person doing only tying-on, etc., and then the last person giving the reed a final blow to make sure it makes it up to the standard of "adequate".

So if those are the reeds she's using, those are good reeds (I've tried them all myself--I even once had a long phone conversation with Reedmaker about exactly what kind of reed I needed), and unless the problem is simply that she's using a too-hard reed and needs to step it down, that was why I said it's the embouchure, not the reed.

IOW, my experience is to not be too quick to assume that "it must be the reed", because frequently--especially for beginners--it's not. And I've got the junk box collection of reeds to prove it. [grin]

And since her question in the thread title sounds like she's asking for reed recommendations, I thought I'd address that.

I have had problems all along with getting, especially, low E and F to play (once I got the lint out of the F# hole [grin]

). And it wasn't until this summer, when incidentally I started doing long tones every day like a fanatic, that I stopped having *quite* so much trouble with them. They still take a bit of finessing, but it's worlds better than it was. The Bb even comes out when I ask it to...

And the reeds didn't change, is the thing. I'm still using the same makes of reeds I was using last spring--the only thing that changed is my embouchure.

So I just wanna make sure she doesn't start rushing around searching for some kind of Holy Grail of reeds that will fix her problem, when the problem may not be the reed.

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