Old Saxophone Reeds

Saxophone Repairman Matt Stohrer from Stohrermusic.com geeks out over some old saxophone reeds including Rico, Vandoren, and LaVoz reeds from back in the day.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• saxophone
• sax
• repair
• reeds
• vandoren
• lavoz
• rico
• stohrer
• vintage

[PHSMustangSAXPlayer]

i love how the Vandorens still look the same on the back hahahaha

[gsco82]

As a clarinet and saxophone player my preference in cane reeds is definitely not Rico. I prefer Vandoren reeds. If you look at the base of the reed and compare Vandoren to any Rico brand you will find that the cane for the Vandoren reed is usually more dense. Perhaps the older Rico reeds are better than the modern ones.

[skeller047]

I've still got a couple boxes of brown box Ricos. They're good reeds, I guess - back "in the day" as you say, they were considered generic. Top notch guys often used La Voz (tenor and bari, mostly) or Vandoren or Hemke (alto). Me, I just liked Rico the best.

I actually think the modern Rico Select Jazz are better than the brown box Ricos, mostly because they are more consistent and the cane is a little finer.