REED STRENGTH GAUGE, Single reed Options

[dwrglas-y-gwynt]

Hi All,

I have a yen to buy a reed strength gauge ( RSG 20, made by UHL Technik). Just wondering if any Sax/clarinet players out there have one ? Any opinions on said device would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance - D -

[TSax]

I'd never heard of one before (and I've talked reeds etc to a lot of sax players), so I've just had a look at it, I'm not convinced. I'd give it a miss if I were you.

Reasons?
- I think if it was a useful bit of kit I'd have heard of it before now
- I believe that the best and most sensitive way of judging whether a reed is right for me is to play it (and I should be able to make a decent sound out of a reasonable range of reeds, getting too specific doesn't feel like a good thing.
- it feels like just one more thing to obsess about instead of just accepting the challenges of playing an instrument with an inherently variable component and getting on and doing it

[barry-clari]

I'd never heard of one before (and I've talked reeds etc to a lot of sax players), so I've just had a look at it, I'm not convinced. I'd give it a miss if I were you.

Reasons?
- I think if it was a useful bit of kit I'd have heard of it before now
- I believe that the best and most sensitive way of judging whether a reed is right for me is to play it (and I should be able to make a decent sound out of a reasonable range of reeds, getting too specific doesn't feel like a good thing.
- it feels like just one more thing to obsess about instead of just accepting the challenges of playing an instrument with an inherently variable component and getting on and doing it

Like TSax, I'm a cynic as regards this. Playing reeds is by far the best way of gauging strength, and even if the gauge said a reed was of ideal strength, there is more than strength to an ideal reed.