Reed Packaging Blues

This is a follow on from a post from over a year ago (forgive me for repetition). Over the past year and a half or so (probably longer… rust never sleeps), I’ve been making efforts to minimize waste. I’m not hardcore about it, just little steps here and there, and I feel I’ve made some good steps (here's a thank you and plug for Be Free and Hopper). One thing that has bugged me for a long time is the excessive plastic used in packaging saxophone reeds.  

I would describe myself as a long term Vandoren user. Over the 26 years or so I’ve been playing saxophone, I’ve used Vandoren more than any other brand. Of all the Vandoren models, V16 tend to work best for me – although I used Traditional a lot too and had a bit of luck with Java as well. I never really understood why reeds come with the plastic reed holders/sleeves. Once you take the reed out of the box and start playing it, the plastic sleeve is never used again. The ‘new’ packaging didn’t do anything for me (I forget when it was introduced… it’s been several years now). Vandoren started individually wrapping the reeds in plastic (I think they claimed it kept reeds at a better humidity level). All it seemed to do was make the box larger and add another layer of plastic. I still have a few boxes of reeds in the old packaging and I’m not sure if I have noticed any improvement with the newer packaging. 

So, even though I have a few boxes of Vandoren left, during December I made the move to Gonzalez. I had expected to go with Marca, but they are harder to get here and more expensive. Compared to Vandoren, Gonzalez have WAY less plastic (only the outer wrapping on the box) and the price is better too (downside being I can’t buy them from my preferred retailer). I had played them on alto for a bit back in the day but never settled into them. And back when I was hunting for soprano reeds I tried a couple of boxes and then moved on - and now I'm back. I got a box of each model and I’ve gravitated towards the RC (regular cut). Early days yet, but it’s working out okay (I'm still on my first box). I would like to try a quarter strength softer, but my plan is to stick with them and see how it develops.

I'm not much of one for new year resolutions ("I'm gonna play as well as Steve Lacy by the end of the month!"), but perhaps 2021 will be my year of Gonzalez.

It's time to drop the plastic sleeves

I'm a long-term Vandoren user. Over the 25 years I've been playing I've used Vandoren (various models... I've tried them all!) more than anything else (and I've tried most other brands/models at some stage). But surely I'm not the only one who's sick of all the plastic packaging used by reed companies. What's the point of the plastic reed holder? You open the box, remove the reed from the plastic sleeve and that's the end of it. Can't more companies use cardboard/paper sleeves? I can't recall opening a box and finding damaged reeds do to the being store in cardboard sleeves. Are sleeves even necessary? Remember the old Rico and La Voz that had tissue paper packing? 

Has anyone noticed performance improvements since Vandoren started individually wrapping reeds? I can't say I have – I even have some of the from the non-wrapped era and they seem pretty much the same. Is it worth the extra waste creation? And due to the wrapping, the Vandoren boxes are huge.

But it's not limited to Vandoren. Rico/D'Addario use plastic sleeves. Rigotti (and Roberto's) use a soft plastic sleeves. And I'm sure there are others too. Alexander use cardboard sleeves... albeit inside the metal tins (wouldn't a cardboard box keep the costs down?) Side note: other than storing old reeds in them - yes, I do keep them...at least for a little while - has anyone found a use for Alexander tins?

Anyway, once my current stock of reeds run low (and I've got quite a stock pile), I will start the search for an alternative that uses less plastic. Marca, Ponzol and Gonzalez come to mind. In the past, I haven't had much luck with Gonzalez, and I'm not sure if Ponzol still make cane reeds, so I'll likely be starting with Marca.

reeds reeds reeds!

For the past year I've been playing on synthetic reeds with mixed success. I was busy with school and breaking in reeds and treating them well started cutting into my limited practice time, so in the end convenience (and synthetics) won. Now that my school schedule has eased off I have decided to get back into cane. But before I make an order I am going to work my way through my current collection of cane reeds.

For quite awhile V16s were my go-to reeds on soprano (and alto before that) but along the way I would pick newly released cuts or reeds I hadn't tried. If they worked, I played them. If not, I would do my best to make them work for me or they might end up in the shoe box.

Currently in the box are reeds from: Rigotti, Marca (Superieure/Jazz), Roberto's, Vandoren (Java/Traditional/ZZ/V12/V16 and a couple of Java Red), Rico (Select Jazz and a few Reserve), Hemke, Alexander (Superial/Classique/NY and a few D.Cs too) and probably a few others I'll discover along the way.... perhaps a Ponzol or Gonzalez here and there.

I am confident of getting something useful out of any reeds that are too hard, although I'm sure that my reed knife skills will be a bit rusty and as a result a few reeds will be sacrificed. On the other hand, I have never had much luck clipping reeds that are too soft.... I'm not even sure I have a soprano reed clipper. My plan is to start with the open boxes first, probably Rico Select Jazz (a soprano reed I've never had any luck with) or Java Red or V12 as I only have a few of them left. Pre-synthetic, I had great success with Rigotti and Marca (and I wouldn't mind trying their new "American Vintage" cut) but with a little luck I won't have to buy reeds for a while.