Beginners' bassoon reeds? Professional bassoon reeds?

Sandra Downing says: "Tosh!"

There is no such thing as a "professional" bassoon reed or a "beginner's" bassoon reed

- just different makes and strengths.

To sound like a professional, play on exactly the same

quality of bassoon reed as a professional performer.

Note the word "quality" - not hardness.

Softness or hardness is a matter of individual choice and individual final adjustment.

Many commercial bassoon reeds are mass produced by semi-skilled workers on production lines. The result is variable quality and poor tone. Yet they are not necessarily the cheapest.

"Cheap" bassoon reeds will never give you the best quality of sound. You will be dissatisfied with them and dump them - which makes them more expensive than a top quality, hand-made bassoon reed. Why? Because you'll get many more hours of enjoyable playing from the best bassoon reeds.

Sandra Downing is an expert bassoon reed maker with more than 25 years experience of making bassoon reeds for herself and her students. Her renowned book the Bassoon Reed Doctor has helped thousands of bassoonists to make commercial bassoon reeds work properly. Now Sandra is offering you her own hand-made reeds.

We offer two different types of bassoon reed.

Finished Bassoon Reeds - ready to play:

These reeds are medium soft in strength and are suitable for all performers, from beginner to professional. Final adjustments to your taste can be made by following the instructions in the Bassoon Reed Doctor.

Unfinished Bassoon Reeds - uncut blanks:

These bassoon reeds are complete in every respect except that the tips have not been cut and the final scrape made.

You can decide on your favourite blade length and then finish the reed to your taste. If you like a hard reed, then very little final scraping will be needed.

Beautiful looking bassoon reeds that give you a beautiful sound.

Every reed has a different, individual, colourful binding.

Sandra's hand-made finished reeds give you fine control of tone, from soft to loud, without overblowing or taxing your embouchure.

Remember, if you would prefer a harder reed, ready for you to make the final adjustments, then the blank bassoon reed is for you.

See what our customers say. All testimonials are unsolicited.

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