The first synthetic reed that out performs a cane reed.
I began working on a synthetic reed while living in Germany in 1990. At that time the technology needed wasn’t available. Six years ago I worked on the idea again, and while the technology was there I hadn’t found the right material. Everything fell into place late last year and my ProReed is now on the market. I have always believed that a synthetic reed was the future of the reed business. In fact I even wrote this in my Saxophone Workshop book, published by Jamey Aebersold in 2009.
How would you like to have a reed that plays like the best cane reed, plays right away, and plays the same every day for a very long time? How long you ask? Ernie Watts has been playing one every day for over two hours since January and it still plays like the first day. There have been many attempts to make a synthetic reed and some have been quite good.. The problem is that most of these reeds are made from liquid material and are very often not perfectly flat. My reed is machined to very exact tolerances and lies perfectly flat on your mouthpiece table.
The material is very flexible and remains easy to play regardless of how stiff a reed you play. You can alter the response by where you place the reed, so don’t be afraid to move it below the tip, even with the tip, or above the tip. I find that for me very slightly above the tip gives the best response. There is no break in period or need to keep the reed moist. It does not feel like a synthetic material and has the same feel as a good cane reed.
The Ponzol ProReed is available for Alto and Tenor in strengths: 2.0 / 2.5 / 3.0 / 3.5.
Please contact the distributors and dealers on my Web Site, Where To Buy.
