World of Pageantry

WHats the longest you've ever had a reed thats playable?

I play bassoon, so I use a reed for about a month before it becomes unusable. Then I can "recycle" it and let it sit in my case for a couple months while I use other reeds. Sometimes, I can pull out the old reeds, do a little knife work on them, and they play almost like new, once they've had a chance to rest.

I still have the reed that I used for my freshman year audition for marching band. That was August 2003. I still use it occasionally. Besides that, I have one reed that I've used for nearly all of the band rehearsals and comps this year. Kinda gross, but it works...

I usually have about 4-8 playable reeds at a time. Switching off every day really helps the life span of your reeds.
But those times when I'm down to 1-2 reeds, they usually last a couple weeks each. A month is about the longest for one single reed that I have used.

It also depends how much you play.

Bobcat wrote:I usually have about 4-8 playable reeds at a time. Switching off every day really helps the life span of your reeds.
But those times when I'm down to 1-2 reeds, they usually last a couple weeks each. A month is about the longest for one single reed that I have used.

It also depends how much you play.

Yeah, it really does depend on how much you play.
During marching season, I kill my reeds like no other, trying to play ridiculously loud and playing early and often

Concert season, my reeds last significantly longer in terms of time- being indoors helps a little too.

As long as it isn't turning brown and as long as you don't catch any rare desease from it then go ahead and use it. Once it starts to sound bad and/or puts you in the hospital, either from the germs on the reed or the director throwing something at you, then you should consider using a new one.

I keep like five boxes of reeds around. Different sizes, brands, etc. I end up using like one a month, but it's nice to have the extras .

my BD always told us that, with the amount of practice we get everyday during rehearsals and individual practice, we have to change our reeds every two weeks, or it'll become "unplayable" [which really means that it'll have bad tone quality].

i play oboe for concert band, and if you know about oboe/bassoon reeds, they're not the cheapest reeds on the planet. in fact they're the most expensive i think. imagine it like buying a new mouthpiece everytime. well, since they're so expensive, i "secretly" use one double-reed for a month, then my BD discovers that i've been doing so [cuz he can hear the difference from a new reed and an old reed], and then i have to go out and buy a new one. btw, one reed cost about the same as one box [10] of Bb clarinet reeds. but i played clarinet too, so i can't complain. haha.

jimmyface inc wrote:i play oboe for concert band, and if you know about oboe/bassoon reeds, they're not the cheapest reeds on the planet. in fact they're the most expensive i think. imagine it like buying a new mouthpiece everytime. well, since they're so expensive, i "secretly" use one double-reed for a month, then my BD discovers that i've been doing so [cuz he can hear the difference from a new reed and an old reed], and then i have to go out and buy a new one. btw, one reed cost about the same as one box [10] of Bb clarinet reeds. but i played clarinet too, so i can't complain. haha.

Double-reeds are very expensive. In fact, I know of many professional double-reed players in symphony orchestras who will just buy the raw cane and then use a knife or razor blade to make their double-reed by hand at home. Time consuming, but worth it.

In fact, I believe that's the preferred method of reed making once you reach the higher performance levels. If you want something done right, as they say...

My oboe teacher makes her own reeds and is going to have me make my own sometime soon as well. She spent all her free time in college making reeds, so now she has like a bucket of them and hasn't made any new ones in a few years. She said that she saved like five hundred dollars or something, so I think it'd be worth it to learn to make them yourself. Besides, it's kind of cool too.

Buying reeds online has been a great way to save money for me. I can buy a box of Vandoren V12's for twelve dollars. And given the fact that I use about one reed a month, that's only twelve dollars for an entire year.

Spring-Heeled Jack wrote:Double-reeds are very expensive. In fact, I know of many professional double-reed players in symphony orchestras who will just buy the raw cane and then use a knife or razor blade to make their double-reed by hand at home. Time consuming, but worth it.

In fact, I believe that's the preferred method of reed making once you reach the higher performance levels. If you want something done right, as they say...

That's what I do...except I buy the reeds pre-gouged, -shaped and -profiled. as the instruments to do these three steps are too expensive. Then I can sand, wrap, round out, and work on the cane to suit my preferences.

And for any bassoonists reading this...homemade reeds are infinitely better than store-bought. Also, use a knife and files rather than razor blades, they are slower but won't hurt the cane as much if you slip.

over a year... ahhh, the beauty of synthetic reeds... and no, i didnt only use that reed in that time, i used others for different types of playing...

i use mine for about a couple of months. i use them for a long long time. but i cycle so its not as bad.

and people making their own reeds? THATS AMAZING!!!!

in middle school, I think i played on my clarinet reed for like 8 months until I realized how crappy i sounded when i was testing or something.

I had this reed and I kept it in a case when I wasn't using it. But after awhile, it started to smell like fish, but I kept using it being the conservative reed player who saves reeds until they don't play so well anymore. But now, it has brown specks on it. I've been playing for years and I've never had reeds go moldy. Weird huh?