Cane saxophone reeds are a nightmare!
Any saxophone player will tell you just how frustrating it can be to get a brand new box of alto or tenor reeds, only to discover that only 2 or 3 of them actually “work” right out of the box.
For many of us players, adjusting your reed can seem like some “dark art” that is, frankly, far too complicated to even attempt.
But it’s also too expensive to only use 20% of our reeds. (Do you have a bag of unused reeds in your practice room too?)
A better way to fix saxophone reeds
In the past the only way I was able to get more of my reeds to actually be playable was to tinker with reed knives, reed rush, sandpaper and various other reed adjusting tools.
It worked most of the time, but wasn’t easy or reliable. Plus, it was time consuming.
However, that all changed when I got my hands on a Reed Geek recently.
What is a Reed Geek anyway?
Mauro Di Gioia had experienced this same issue but cleverly found the perfect solution. He built the Reed Geek – a universal tool that makes adjusting reeds easy and fast. Plus it’s sharp but safe and won’t get confiscated when travelling!
The Reed Geek is made from surgical grade steel. It’s small and fits really easily in your pocket or saxophone case. The thing I love most about it is how easily you can make the back of your reeds perfectly flat with just a couple of “wipes”. It’s the sort of thing you can do every time you get your reed out to ensure a perfect seal with your mouthpiece every time.
And we all know that means a reed that performs great!
Adjusting reeds made easy
As well as keeping the back of the reeds flat, I found that adjusting the “balance” of a reed, or it’s strength was really easy with the Reed Geek. Because the tool is so easy to handle and is surprisingly sharp, you can very easily remove cane from the reed in small increments. After just a bit of experimenting I found I could quickly identify the problem with the reed and get it playing. For me it was the convenience and ease of use that surprised me.
Is the Reed Geek that good?
If like me you’ve tried just about every reed tool under the sun, then chances are you are sceptical about just how easy the Reed Geek works. (By the way, I’m not sponsored by Mauro or Reed Geek in any way!)
Once I discovered the Reed Geek, I basically put all my other tools and reed paraphernalia away. Plus, I now know confidently that I can get nearly every reed from a new box to work for me – every time!
Check out the video review we did recently of the Reed Geek where we put it through it’s paces adjusting a bunch of different alto and tenor sax reeds.
Find out more about the Reed Geek here: https://www.reedgeek.com