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The price of reeds

Altocu15

Member
Messages
7
Hi one and all,
A couple of weeks ago my sax teacher put me onto www.internetreeds.com.
He said drop these guys an email to try a sample of there reeds, i did this and asked for
1x2.5 1x3.0 and 1x3.5 alto reeds, Low and behold a few days later i received 6 reeds in total,
two each of the above strength.
I have tried the 2.5, and the3.0, and there just cracking reeds, the 3.5 are to tough for me.
Now the good part. The cost of 10 alto reeds £ 9.00, this is less than half price of the Vandorens iv been using.
They also supply clarinet, tennor, and baritone reeds.
In these times of watching the coppers, i thought i would pass on this info as some members might want to try them out.
Bill
 
Great stuff, Bill. How would you compare them to the Vandoren? I am absolutely shocked by the price of reeds in this country. I walked into a shop a few months ago and asked for the price of a box of reeds. I was told they didn't sell them in boxes, but sold them individually for £3. £3! I don't know who was more shocked - me, or the guy who told me after he saw the look on my face.

I paid something like ¥2280 for a box of 10 Vandoren regulars last year in Japan. If you work it out with today's (bad) exchange rate, that's £17.5 for a box of ten. If you work it out under a "good" exchange rate, it would be under £13 a box.
 
There was another thread on this a while ago. Maybe do a forum search.

Reeds have gone up a lot. At least doubled. Hurts. Getting to the stage where those plastic ones look cheap.
 
Hi Djade,
comparing the internet reeds to the Vandorens, i would say the 2.5 strength are imho a little stiffer, than the vandorens, if this makes sense, between a 2.5 and 3.0.
The 3.0 internet reed made me really work, where as the vandoren zz 3.0 is quite comfy.
There worth a go, and i will order a box of 10 alto reeds from them next week.
Bill
 
Reeds have gone up a lot. At least doubled. Hurts. Getting to the stage where those plastic ones look cheap.

As painful as buying Ishimori reeds at ¥1995 retail for a box of 5 alto reeds, or ¥2625 for tenor, although I've read that they're excellent.
 
Hi Djade,
comparing the internet reeds to the Vandorens, i would say the 2.5 strength are imho a little stiffer, than the vandorens, if this makes sense, between a 2.5 and 3.0.
The 3.0 internet reed made me really work, where as the vandoren zz 3.0 is quite comfy.
There worth a go, and i will order a box of 10 alto reeds from them next week.
Bill

Thanks, Bill. I'll give them an email and see if they'll put a few in the post for me to try out. I'm hoping I've got more than enough reeds to see me till my next trip to Japan, but just in case.
 
I think Internet Reeds are on a par with Blue Box Vandoren, strength wise, and I would order reeds a half strength softer for my use. I got a couple of samples and didn't like them at all. I agree about the eye watering price of reeds though.

Jim.
 
Internet Reeds reeds are a bit on the stiff side but respond to a quick slurp of snake oil and the much-criticised stroking, rubbing and sanding trickery plus a few minutes in a glass of tepid water (or gin, or vodka, or ....... - chacun a son gout as they say in other parts.

Incidentally, some philanthropist is offering 50 Flying Goose (or whatever the name is) reeds on E-bay for the princely sum of 99 pence. That was for alto if I remember rightly. I seem to remember someone remarking in another thread that they resembled blowing a scaffold batten but at that price it makes cheap kindling.

Dave
 
I tried cutting corners last year and bought `Flying Goose' reeds. About £8 for 10. They were thin and soft and great for my beginner attempts, however......in the middle of ensemble piece I took a quick break, stuck the mouthpiece quickly in and split my lip! Think Dracula's mother by the end of the piece - not a good look-. They were so fine it was like putting a razor blade into your mouth.
Glyn
 
The cheapest baritone Rico Royals I could find online recently was £31.31 for a box of 10.
I shared them with my teacher as we didn't need 10 reeds each at the time.
 
I have been just testing some reeds bought directly from the producer. A Spanish firm called Medir.

They do all sorts of reeds for woodwinds and even sell you reed “ splits” to make your own reeds.........should you feel inclined to take up another hobby! >:)

http://www.medir.cat/vella/angles/tot.htm

the price is very good indeed and they will also send you a free sample to help you chose the strenght.
 
Incidentally, some philanthropist is offering 50 Flying Goose (or whatever the name is) reeds on E-bay for the princely sum of 99 pence.

Looks like someone's bagged them. Perhaps they should have read what Glyn had to say about them first:

They were so fine it was like putting a razor blade into your mouth.
Glyn

That's put me right off buying them. Thanks. :D
 
Perhaps try musicians friend and see if they will ship to the uk? $19 usd for a box of 10 vandoren java tenor

Where I get my Rigottis which are a little more expensive About 20% more depending.
 
psshh!! In the shop where I buy my reeds, they charge $5 for a RICO and a little over six for a vandoren!! thats outrage
 
Music shop have discovered that you need consumables. While most people buy one saxophone and certainly in times of crisis stick to it, they need reeds........... . Most people spend more in reeds and accessories that they ever spent on their horn.
 
Music shop have discovered that you need consumables..
Quick point here- our reed prices (and price rises) come directly from the manufacturers, its not a case of US deciding to crank up the pressure on player's wallets
 
well, the mark-up on reeds for many shops is in the region of 50%......

Anyway, dealing directly with a maker (as I said Medir in Spain for example, gives you a much better price than buying from a shop and the maker makes even more money than they were selling to a distributor who would then sell to shops.
 
I seem to remember hearing a while ago that there'd been problems with the reed harvests and I think that's what's filtering it's way through to us now.

But it seems to me that I'm paying close to twice what I was a couple of years ago. Still it's not as bad as oil yet.... My heating bill is 5 times what it was 10 years ago. :w00t:
 
nice try.......but Reed is produced in many countries in the world and the price increase is affecting Argentinian reeds, French Reeds, American ones........ there has never been shortage of reed all over the world (the reed plant is actually a pest that needs controlling!)
 
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