Cane Reeds v.s. Fiber Reeds. I tried Legere reeds/don't like them….

[Michael Bishop]

Has anyone tried the new Fiber Reeds? How do they compare to a cane reed? I stopped by one of our local music shops who is a dealer for Legere reed yesterday and saw the Legere Signature Synthetic Reeds. There’s lots of great reviews for this reeds and the shop spoke very highly of them too. They had a few sitting on the side and let me try them out–I did not like them at all. The sound coming out of Sax sounded ‘congested’ and is not very warm at all. They sounded more ‘contemporary’ and required more air support to play over a cane reeds. I couldn’t get that good of a sub tone out of these reeds either. Everyone is different and there’s lots of players out there who are using this reed. Cane reeds require more work to keep in good playing condition, but to me the added warmth/projection of a good cane reed is worth the extra effort. On a side note, I’ve been using the Reed Geek tool for a short while and it’s really, really great–an added plus with our humid climate here in the south.

[Mel]

I don’t know about the Legere reeds but I am glad to here you are using the Reed Geek and like it. I was just going to order one. I have been using really fine sand paper on the backs. I like that you can also trim the front up also with the Geek.

[Michael Bishop]

Awesome Mel 🙂 For me, it’s been a huge help here in the south. With our humidity, Cane reeds can play different from 1 day to the next, but the added sound you get from Cane reeds makes the little bit of extra work with it–I think it does anyway LOL–Like anything else, the more you learn about how to use the Reed Geek properly the better the results you’ll see out of it. It comes with a small booklet that shows you some of the various techniques of using the Reed Geek, but for me I got much more benefit from seeing demos. Youtube is full of demos of how to use the Reed Geek…..there’s much more to using the reed geek than just giving it a simple treatment along the back side of the cane reed. I think some of the video demos Reed Geek has are hosted on their own youtube channel? The better you learn to use the Reed Geek, the better your Cane reeds will play. I’ve spoken with the owner of Reed Geek, Mauro, over the phone (he’s the guy in the video above who used with Reed Geek for David Sanborn). Mauro is a true professional and a really nice guy 🙂 It’s also really important that the reed seals all the way to where the facing of your MP starts at. If the reed isn’t sealing at the facing, Mauro will show you how to use the Reed Geek to fix that problem….those little things can make a big difference 🙂

[brother cavefish]

to me the Reed Geek tool is just another gimmick , it is a key stock with lettering, a simple exit blade works fine if needed

[Anonymous]

I’ve found simply by rubbing the reed on paper you can identify high spots and smooth the reed down. If there are any high spots one may use a smooth flexible nail file to carefully file them down. I presume an exit blade is a box-cutter or Stanley knife blade? The sharper the tool the lighter the pressure required to remove the bumps which prevent the reed sealing properly against the MP.

[Michael Bishop]

The Reed Geek is NOT just another gimmick. There are so many things that you can do with the Reed Geek that you can’t do with sand paper, a nail file, . I’m not blasting those things, of course not. Have you ever tried a Reed Geek before? That video I shared above is by no means the only thing you do with a Reed Geek…no way. Different strokes for different folks, but at the very least give something a chance before calling it a gimmick.

[brother cavefish]

i was taught that, old trick too, rubbing it on paper before you wet it tightens up the pores and smoothes out the sound—as far as the the reed geek, if someone wants to pay 60.00 for it, when they can use simps items to do the same, heh

[Anonymous]

Hi Michael, I buy Vandoren reeds, Green and Blue boxes. These reeds are really good to me. I give them a gentle sanding on paper to make them shine. I gently rub the rough lip surface area to make it smoother with my nail file, and they are good to go for many months of playing. I use every reed in the box so I guess these reeds are top quality. I would be very willing to give your reed geek a test if you send me one. We don’t see these luxury items in South Africa. Anyway why buy something you don’t need? It only takes me a minute or to prepare a new reed for service with my nail file.

Hi BC, I use a beeswax lip balm product for the neck-cork which works very well as it penetrates the cork and gives it a deep shine. If you would like to seal the pores of the reeds you could use a beeswax balm for that too. When I really want a smooth sound, I put away my sax and put on a King Curtis CD – LOL

[Michael Bishop]

Good stuff Jeff 🙂 You can e-mail me your address at baboon4215@gmail.com and I would be more than happy to send/give you 1, sometime in Sept-Oct. Summers are always tight for us until the new school year starts back up–my wife works for the public schools and the new school year just started. Over the summer my family is dependent on the $ I bring in. On a side note, here’s what the owner of reedgeek.com, Mauro, told me in an e-mail today. I copied/paste his reply for everyone to read:

“You can let players know that ReedGeeks are made 100% from scratch( 18 step process in all) to produce a tool that is more accurate and precise than any reed or woodworking tool on the market. Over the years we have had every major reed manufacturer recommend ReedGeek to maintain reeds for this very reason. Saying that flattening reeds with a ReedGeek is a Gimmick is like saying to a master carpenter that buying a very expensive high-end plane “is just a Gimmick.”

[Pete]

Hi Michae
regarding gimmicks you could call everything manufactured
a”gimmick” where would we be if that is the case.

[Author]

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