Should I make reeds from scratch or improve commercially made reeds?

This is a question faced by every serious clarinetist. A number of accomplished performers make their own reeds, beginning with the purchase of cane and going through the entire process. They offer persuasive arguments in favor of "doing it yourself".

Those who make their own reeds point out that the cane of commercially made reeds is of unknown quality, whereas an individual choosing to make his own reeds can begin by buying high quality cane, and then shape it in the manner he chooses.

Do-it-yourself advocates also point out that one cannot try out reeds before purchasing them, and very often the player who buys commercially made reeds ends up using only two reeds out of a box of ten. Paying for the "bad" reeds in the box adds to the expense of the commercial reed option.

While these points are well taken, the decision on whether to make reeds or buy them often comes down to practical considerations. Is cane readily available in high quality at a location near you, or would you need to send away for cane? If the raw material--cane--is not readily available in high quality the argument that the player who starts from scratch with high quality cane is less persuasive.

Time is, however, the real consideration: it is the ultimate scarce resource. Since your total time available for the clarinet must be limited, then time spent on making reeds means less of this precious commodity to spend on practice. The clarinetist who intends to make his own reeds must also purchase a good deal of specialized machinery to allow him to split the cane, flatten the back, shape the vamp and so on.

Although the process of making reeds from scratch is often described as a simple one, the aspiring reed-maker can more realistically expect to make a considerable investment in time to learn to produce acceptable reeds. Given the arguments pro and con, most professional clarinetists today opt for buying commercial reeds and adjusting them to their needs. They solve the problem of quality by being very selective in their choice of reeds--working with only a small fraction (the best) of the reeds they buy.

How does one begin in finding this small fraction of potentially fine reeds?

Back to A Good Reed: What Does It Look Like? or forward to A Good Reed: What Does It Sound Like and How Does It Play?

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