American Scrape Oboe

These are not the old fiber cane reeds!

I play in a professional regional symphony orchestra. I have used the American scrape for the past year. Overall I have been very pleased after spending a lot of time getting used to the differences between this and a cane reed. The immediate advantage over a cane reed is the consistency in response especially in the lower register. The reeds are capable of producing a warm tone once broken in a little. The intonation also settles in after that break-in period and remains consistent for the life of the reed. Overall the life of the reed is much longer than a cane reed. One still has to be careful, they will split if snagged and I also damaged one removing it from the oboe. The synthetic material is slick and my hand slid, squeezing the top of the reed. Although I didn’t see any damage, the reed played with more resistance after that. (Perhaps tie a few wraps of oboe string around it to add additional grip). I became comfortable enough on the synthetic reeds to trust I could play them on concerts. I am happy I tried the reeds, it’s nice to have more time to practice instead of constantly making and adjusting reeds. Shipping is fast and customer services has been great.

Flat to the point of Uselessness

When these first came out I was excited and tried the medium hard. It was flat and customer support said I could try clipping the tip. I did this incrementally and managed to raise the pitch a bit but introduced a lot of instability and rattle, particularly with the upper register. Seeing friends have success with their bassoon reeds, I decided to try the medium thinking maybe that would be easier to work with, but it's just as unplayable and I have to bite uncomfortably hard to get it anywhere near in tune. The English Horn reed was better, but won't even stay on the bocal. This has been a huge waste of money.

Beginner Oboist

I am a 79 year-old female who wants to play the oboe. It has been difficult to play and get a decent sound with the wooden reeds so I thought I would give the synthetic reeds a try. I was pleasantly surprised. Much easier to get a sound. I bought the medium-soft and have been happy with the results.