Larry Allen has been hand-making oboe reeds for his students since 1967. The design being honed over 40 years, the result is an extremely consistent reed that plays beautifully time after time. Despite being designed for students, the quality on these reeds will meet the discriminating expectations of the most experienced players.
M**N
Crows Too Low
Soft and easy to blow out of the box. Problem is it crowed at ~G5-G4 instead of C6-C5. This is why one evaluator's musician couldn't play the high notes. Compounding the problem the reed is just slightly shorter than 70mm so there's not a lot of room to trim the reed shorter, which is required in order to correct the pitch.I shortened the reed to raise the crow pitch to a ~B5-B4, and shaved the corners a bit. Letting it dry overnight now and will probably work on it some more, but I'm not expecting great improvements. Bear in mind as you shorten the reed it becomes harder to play -- not good for a student. The reed should crow C6-C5 out of the box and be easy to play.I bought two of these reeds. I will report back again after trying it.At this point I would not recommend this reed for a beginner unless someone is available who can adjust it. You get what you pay for!
K**R
It simply could not play in tune!
I could not play with my chamber ensemble as the reed simply didn’t play at concert pitch. The reed has an imperfection on it (a dark marbling), so I think that accounts for the error in pitch (maybe? I’m just brainstorming here). The reed I received was the worst I’ve ever played on in 10 years of playing numerous reed instruments :(
M**A
Doesn’t seem to be that great of a reed
Got this for my son who is a beginner oboe player. He said this worked okay for him but that it seemed harder to blow out of. He’s new at the oboe so reeds don’t last long for him but this reed didn’t last for as long as it should have. disappointed
D**A
Reed was cut funny
I bought the reed for a woodwind pedagogy class in college. It arrived in a timely manner. But, the reed was cut really funny. It was thicker at the tip and impossible to crow on and very hard to get a sound on. My teacher shaved it a significant amount, and now it works. Buyers Beware.
J**C
Good value
Exactly what my daughter needed for band have order many times always as expected.
C**A
Great beginner Reed
This reed is nice and easy to play. Great for a beginner!
T**E
Five Stars
My 15 yr old first year player picked these after trying at least 20 others. Soft enough for her.
A**R
This reed was supposed to be the "good" kind but ...
This reed was supposed to be the "good" kind but my daughter was unable to use it because it would not allow her to hit the high notes
