K. Ge Reeds

26 comments

1 Kelly Jones { 05.20.10 at 3:49 am }

Intermediate--Plays Most days--Used 6-10 reedmakers--Reedmaking: Buy and do not adjust

The medium-soft reeds were suitable for my first year of playing, and remained stable for over a month of practising.

2 vinushka { 03.17.10 at 3:45 am }

Professional--Plays Most days--Used More than 10 reedmakers--Reedmaking: Usually make my own reeds

Good business man! Well, the cane quality could be found as good as world-class level, but also can found as shit as rotten orange. The problem is if you are a famous oboist, that business man is going to send you good reeds. Otherwise, you are going to receive whole branch of rubbish.

3 Anish { 06.20.09 at 2:08 pm }

These reeds honestly are not good for an advanced player. These reeds are entirely computerized, and do not have a reliable sound . I made the mistake of using one for a concert, I will never do so again.

4 Geoff Bridge British Double Reed Society { 05.06.09 at 6:24 am }

Professional--Used more than 10 reedmakers--Plays most days--Usually makes own reeds

Very very good cane in the tube. It makes easily blown reeds which last very well once broken in. The tubes are no more uneven in diameter and bend as any other supplier adn indeed better than most. There is therefore some waste but it is not excessive. Definitely one of the best canes on the market. The standard reeds work very well for pupils too

5 Anonymous { 04.11.09 at 1:34 am }

Professional--Used more than 10 reedmakers--Plays most days--Usually makes own reeds

the kge profile is rubbish!!!!!…..wasnt worth scraping….you get what you pay for.

6 herb { 03.21.09 at 1:52 pm }

Professional--Usually makes own reeds

I have used about 400 pieces of KGe cane in my bassoon reed business to date. It is consistently the best cane I have used. There are occasional “losers” as in any cane supply, but they are very few. The price is fair and their gouge is clean, needing only light sanding.
The question of professional vs standard probably relates to leaving a little cane on the professional model so the individual can fine tune/finish as he desires. Don’t know about oboe stuff, but the bassoon cane is delicious.
Herb

7 Administrator { 11.12.08 at 10:37 am }

There is a price list on his site (which says that everything will be in US dollars starting in 2009.) I’ve fixed the dead link to the site.

8 hayley aged 15 { 11.11.08 at 11:59 pm }

hi do you know how much they cost? My teacher has recommended this reed

9 G { 09.07.08 at 11:57 am }

good cane

10 Tom Jones { 06.28.08 at 8:18 pm }

His reeds are terrible! My student gave me a couple of his reeds to try. Nasty tune, narrow, uneven and poorly made. I will never ask any of my students to buy his reeds. They are rip off!

11 Peter VandeBurgt { 06.22.08 at 6:39 pm }

Thanks for all these comments. They were very helpfull in deciding wether to purchase a batch of cane from K.GE, which I will, thus you are all working for him, which is business I guess.
Peter.

12 Anon { 06.17.08 at 2:45 am }

I just have to say that the KGE Reeds website is really poorly made and broken in several places. It really does effect your willingness to purchase through the website. Prices are quoted without GST, which as far as I know is illegal. For example, a complete professional reed is AU $29.00. The claim is that you are making a saving of $2.90 per reed. The catch is that the $29.00 price is actually GST non-inclusive, and the GST is tagged onto the invoice at the end, making each reed actually cost $31.90. So as you can see there is in fact no $2.90 saving. This is misleading and simply.. dodgy. From what I’ve seen, there has never been any attempts to rectify this problem, and simply no efforts to gain our patronage.

Despite all of that, I have used these reeds for several years with generally very good results. I prefer the “original” shape. They are usually between 70-71mm, which would be considered short by many.

13 Rach { 11.07.07 at 5:14 am }

I am a doubler (oboe being my 4th instrument). With the only other alternative for reeds in much of Oz being factory-made reeds, the discovery of KGe reeds has turned my oboe playing around! They are very consistent, although I have to scrape them to suit. I have been using the standard medium soft with wire, which is what my local music store sells. They are a little pricy, but can you put a price on excellent response and tone?

14 Su Chee { 09.22.07 at 5:26 pm }

Recently received a bad reed out of the batch, promised to be replaced with no questions asked. Excellent service!

15 Ke-xun's Daughter { 09.17.07 at 3:23 am }

The best reeds ever!!!

16 Anonymous { 09.01.07 at 10:34 pm }

The standard has gone down.

17 Howard, Malaysia { 04.15.07 at 7:56 am }

His reeds take a terribly long time to break in (in response to Claire’s comment about them being so open and hard, and in fact they need a certain amount of adjustment to play), but when they do break in, they are absoulutely fantastic reeds! But recently they have been making fairly inconsistent reeds. Such a difficult thing, this reed making stuff.

18 Claire { 03.06.07 at 9:56 am }

I have recently bought a couple of his ‘professional’ reeds and have also experienced the ’standard’ version briefly when they’ve been bought by my students. They are on first glance really nice reeds: they make a lovely sound and are really stable over the whole range. However, they are OPEN and they are HARD. (Other people have said this to me too.) I am constantly trying to get them to close up enough for me to play on them without exhaustion. Even if I succeed one day, the next day they are wide open again. Next time I may consider getting a medium-hard standard version to see what difference that makes.

19 Justin { 12.25.06 at 4:52 am }

I had bought a oboe reed at K-Ge by my friend.
The sound of the the reed is great, but it could be better if the price become lower ~

20 Emmanuel Danan { 12.20.06 at 6:25 am }

I have been using k-ge gouged cane for two years now, and can honestly say it is wonderful. Great tone quality. The gouge is very even. the reeds I made with this cane were VERY durable (some lasted 8 months, I play three hours a day and always rotate 3-4 reeds).

Great product !

21 MD { 11.26.06 at 9:31 am }

The g&s cane is excellent – consistent, well cut and beautiful to work with.

22 david harris { 09.01.06 at 1:46 am }

harfra@mydesk.net.au

23 david harris { 09.01.06 at 1:33 am }

I have been playing just over a year (I am 61 this year). Still persisting with mediums (professional, wired, U-scrape) playing 10 to 20 seconds and resting for a few seconds. Tone is very close to pleasant. (so my wife says!) Only practice about 45minutes a day. Three reeds have lasted many months rotated. When they close and lose their resistance, I kettle spout steam up to the wire for a ten seconds – they open up (like oysters). I peg them to keep them open until dry (with a clothes peg). Probably don’t need to use peg. If nothing else K Ge’s reeds are forgiving! Email me.

24 Walter { 05.21.06 at 12:53 pm }

I have ordered only gouged cane from K Ge Reeds. I love the cane! It is the best, longest lasting and most consistent cane I have purchased, and I have paid more dearly for well-known cane from Europe.

25 ravenfar { 05.01.06 at 10:58 am }

Every reed I ordered leaked. They all had skin, and were very resistant. I don’t mind adjusting reeds, but I hate to adjust and the add skin back on, which adds resistance back on as well.

26 Howard Ng { 03.29.06 at 7:12 am }

His reeds are basically very very good! (considering that i do not make reeds and i rarely get to adjust my reeds) All his reeds are playable without adjustment, it is a matter of how you judge a ‘finished’ reed. One thing i find absurd is that his professional and standard reeds do not have any big difference in quality but differ a lot in terms of price. If there is no obvious differences why should i pay more for the so called ‘professional’ reeds? That is my only complaint. I find that his reeds last a very very long period of time (of course no reed does, but for a 5-6 hour practise session, i can rotate 3-4 reeds for more than a month!) which is great!