BEGINNER OBOE REED
I make beginner oboe reeds that are easy to play with minimal resistance. Over more than six years of teaching the oboe, I believe that ease of response and control is most important for beginners (complete beginners to Grade 4) in encouraging them and helping them to enjoy playing this challenging instrument. Therefore, I ensure that all beginner oboe reeds I sell have this quality.
The beginner oboe reeds I make for my customers are all handmade and tried and tested along the way by me - I don't ship reeds that I wouldn't be happy letting my own students play on. Having said that, everyone's embouchure and resistance/sound preferences are different, and ultimately the reeds have to suit you.
With this in mind, I offer every customer who purchases oboe reeds from me a free 30-minute online session if they want to let me have a listen to how the reeds sound when they play on them and to give me any feedback on what they would like more or less of in the reeds. I always strive to keep making better reeds that will suit each and every customer.
To view my reedmaking process and equipment, kindly click here.
All beginner oboe reeds I sell are made from superior quality cane and are finished by hand. They are easy to play and have a U-shaped scrape.
These are the steps I take over the process of making every single reed:
- Split tube cane (Reeds n' Stuff cane splitter)
- Pregouge cane (Reeds n' Stuff pregouger)
- Gouge cane (Kunibert Michel gouging machine)
- Shape cane (Reeds n' Stuff shaping machine)
- Tie cane onto staple
- Scrape reed by hand
The entire process from splitting the tube cane to the finished scraped reed lasts approximately two weeks. I test all finished reeds on my Josef 20th Anniversary oboe before dispatching the reeds.
