Our Product Range

Bassoon Reeds

Precision Reeds

We produce reeds based on traditional and practical experience.

Reeds for Beginners

Attractive offers for beginners and advanced players: in selection and production, we pay careful attention to reeds which play easily and with clear intonation.

Reeds for Pros

Professional requirements demand high quality reeds: using our precise production methods and individual fitting we are able to respond to your exact wishes and requirements.

Oboe Reeds

Quality Reeds

You will find reeds for modern and historical oboes with our co-operation partners, 'Krebs & Heinrich'. Profit from their many years of experience, extremely competent advice about reeds and staples as well as the best quality available.

Accessories

The wonderful world of Oboe & Bassoon accessories can be somewhat confusing and making a wrong purchase can spoil the fun. Therefore PRO REEDS & KREEDO would like to provide you with a selected assortment of practice-tested and proven accessories.

Web-Service

News and Support Chat

Registering for our new News-Service by Email or Text-Message allows you to receive up-to-date info on events, workshops, offers or delivery times. Our live can help you immediatly.

www.proreeds.eu

You want to surf through all PRO REEDS? Please use your desktop device. All our products you'll find in the KREEDO-eShop

Contact

You may reach us...

... by telephone

PRO REEDS-Consult:
Please send us an E-mail for general questions or a free Call back.
For fast orders please use the Kreedo-eShop Hotline:

      +49 69 57 000 547

... by telefax

Kreedo-eShop Fax:

      +49 69 57 000 548

... by E-mail

Please click on the E-mail button in the nav bar at the top.

... by support chat

Imprint

Publisher:

Ricardo Döringer
Music-Media-Consult,
Reed & Acoustic Design

Address:
see Distribution

Websites:
www.proreeds.eu
iphone.proreeds.eu


Distribution:

KREEDO GbR
acting as
Mrs. Christel Krebs
Mr. Dipl.-Ing.Clemens Heinrich

Address:
Buber-Neumann-Weg 68
60439 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

Contact:
Phone +49 (0)69 57000547
Fax +49 (0)69 57000548

info@kreedo.de
www.kreedo.de

Register Court: Frankfurt am Main
VAT-IdNo.: DE226513663

Tips & Tricks:

There isn't only one way of doing things and, of course, we don't want to blow things out of proportion.

But there are at least as many reed making techniques as there are bassoonists; all of us are constantly trying out new ideas for improving our material.
Therefore, Pro Reeds would like to support you with some helpful tips and tricks. Experienced reed makers will already know most of these tips, but we hope that even you will find a couple of gems.

Reed Storage

Reeds are sensitive and should never be stored in direct sunlight for very long. On the other hand, it is certainly helpful to allow raw cane that is still a bit green to ripen in the sun. Good air circulation is the most important criteria for good reed storage cases. Inadequate ventilation easily creates condensation or mold.

Reaming

Regardless of whether you ream the shaft when it is wet or dry, we recommend you use a mini-brush to remove all shavings, since this action can reduce ambient noise. Reamers (spiral or diamond), additional reed-making tools and mini-brushes are available at KREEDO.

Playin 'Pro reeds'

After you have received our reeds, we recommend you play them in little by little. Before the first playing, they should be soaked 5-10 minutes. They shouldn't be played more than 30 minutes the first day.The breaking in time can also be shortened or improved through frequent "soaking - drying" cycles (3 min. soaking / 6 hours drying).
If you find that after being played in, the reed plays somewhat light for your personal taste, we recommend you keep the reed in a closed case overnight. If it's somewhat heavy, leave it out or in an open case overnight. Additional changes in tension can, of course, be made by very carefully lifting up or pressing down the first wire (see also wire) Depending on the cane category, our reeds normally reach their optimal playing and sound characteristics within 2-5 days.

Cane Storage

Here the issue is not only the type of storage but also the duration. The times given are general guidelines.
- Cane tube should be properly stored and cured between three to four years before being worked with. Storage and curing times of more than ten years no longer contribute to improvements in the quality.
- - Green or unripe cane tubes can be placed in direct sunlight to aid in ripening. In our experience, however, the results are unsatisfactory. - Reed blanks should remain unworked for at least one week - a month or longer is better.
- Finished reeds tend to become very dried out, especially during the cold season when left in heated rooms with low humidity (see also Soaking). Use of a humidor has proven helpful when storing reeds for a longer period under such conditions. In our experience, cases with good air circulation are preferred for reeds that are used daily. Humidors which are optimal for storing reeds will be available at PRO REEDS in the near future.

Knives

Dull knives make it impossible to work with cane and produce satisfactory reeds. It is relatively easy to find good knives in a specialty shop, but maintaining their sharp edge is difficult for many bassoonists. Sharpening them improperly can render valuable and expensive reed making tools almost unusable. Our recommendation is to have your knives sharpened by an expert about every six months. (These scissor and knife sharpening experts also provide this service for unusual edges). The edge holds especially well if you use a standard whetstone to touch it up from time to time (synthetic "Arkansas Stone" or "Belgian Brocken" with a granulation of 6000-8000). Use water or sharpening oil depending on the stone. Using a strop and polishing paste is often a good idea for beginners. Four to five strokes in both directions and you quickly have a sharp knife again. This method is only partially suitable for the very wedge-shaped reed scraping knives, however, since the edge becomes rounded if a strop is used too often.

Bocals

Bocal diameters at the reed end can vary significantly. That leads to very different reed seating on the bocal, which appreciably influences the intonation. The wide variety of bocal diameters makes it impossible, however, to create bassoon reeds which exactly fit all bocals. WAs a result, we have measured a wide range of bocal cones from the modern and historical bassoon family and have adapted our reeds to the most frequently found diameters. Please find our recommended insertion depths on the following chart.

Sandpaper

At any rate it should be waterproof and various granulations should be available. Fine sandpapers are also good for working the inside of the tip opening.

Drying times

If you order semi-finished reeds, take lots of time when finishing and scraping the blade. Reeds that have been quickly thrown together are rarely satisfying. Unusable reeds also happen when, because of impatience, the reed is not allowed to rest and the second step is done before the first. As every bassoonist knows, in order to test the reed, it must be soaked first. However, the full range of change to the playing characteristics or sound qualities from scraping develops only after the reed has completely dried out again. As a rule, a drying time of 24 hours between the various scraping steps is adequate.

Soaking

Our recommendation: soak the reeds for five minutes before the first use. Afterwards the first wire should not be too tight - it may certainly have a bit of play. The wire can be lightly pressed down without constricting the reed, only if it still sits loosely at this point. It is certainly possible that your reeds will become very dry during the hot season or because of room heating and lower humidity. In that case, we recommend soaking the reed for 20 to 30 minutes and then probably allowing them to dry out overnight again. Here it is important to guarantee sufficient air circulation to avoid moisture blockages. Depending on your routine or preferences, follow that up by soaking the reeds once again for 1-3 minutes and the reed is ready to play.

Wires

If the first wire is drawn too tightly, it seriously diminishes the reed's ability to vibrate! In our experience, the first wire should not be tightened further, once the reed blank has dried. As a rule, the tightness of the first wire is usually okay following the first soaking. In other words, the wire should sit with a minimum of play. (see also soaking)

Events

Exhibitions, workshops and IDRS events surrounding the oboe and bassoon family of instruments. Wherever our logo appears, PRO REEDS & KREEDO is also present for you: