Red, black, purple, green, brown, blue, multi, gray or gold reeds? Which one should I order? This might help.
Our oboe reeds are hand made. The color identifies our reed maker. Your reed choice should be based upon your playing ability and your teacher's recommendation.
Our RED reeds are intended for the beginning oboe student. The tip of the reed is not as delicate as any of the remaining reeds and therefore well suited to the beginning student. For those who have never played a reed instrument, we recommend that they purchase a medium soft reed. As the player's musical ability progresses and his embouchure strengthens, he may find that his reed has the tendency to collapse. It is then time to move to a medium reed.
The next step up is our BLACK reed that has a more delicate tip. Both the RED and BLACK reeds have only a heavy heart.
More advanced players will want to play on an American scrape reed which not only has a heavy heart but also has lighter areas on each side that are called "windows". We offer three of these-PURPLE, GREEN or BROWN. Since different reed makers make these reeds, they are slightly different. We suggest that you try one of each to see which best suits your needs.
Our BLUE student reed is made by the oboist who also makes our BLUE professional reed. This is meant for students not yet ready for the strength of a professional reed.
The BLUE, MULTI, and GOLD reeds are each made by different professional players. Again we recommend that you test the various reeds to find the one that best suits your needs.
We are now carrying a GRAY oboe reed that is made by someone who studied with Bert Lucarelli and Alex Klein. He says it gives a dark tone and is very flexible.
We hope this information will help you in your search for the "perfect" oboe reed.
