Marlin Lesher Oboe Reed Medium Hard

I am a professional oboist with a masters degree in oboe performance. I have performed with orchestras all over the world. I had a recital coming up and didn’t have enough time to make new reeds, so I ordered this one as a Hail Mary. It was an excellent reed. I played a whole recital and the sound and tone were professional quality. It’s a bit brighter than a reed I would make myself, but I still sounded great. Played very easily, great dynamic range, played all of the high range and low range with ease. I have a full time day job and making reeds can sometimes be a barrier to my practicing. I will be using these reeds regularly when I simply don’t have the time to make my own. And I will be recommending them to my students!

My daughter absolutely LOVES these reeds! A 3rd year oboe player, these are her top pick by far. The quality can be inconsistent as they are hand made by different people. Definitely look at the return policy where you purchase them so that you have that option if needed.

I have been playing the oboe for five years. Since I'm self-taught (and, thus, unable to make my own reeds), I've had to look around for store-bought reeds that 1) are low-priced, 2) last a long time (sound-wise), 3) have good tone, 4) resist breaking. This brand has very consistent in all areas--much better than some of the more well-known brands. Also, the fun colors used to wrap the reed are nice. So, unless you know how to make your own reeds, I'd suggest these.

My daughter is an advanced high school oboist and our two top shops for reeds have shut down. We tried these reeds, and the first thing she and her lessons teacher realized is that this reed is not hand made. It is a machine made and hand shaped reed. The sound is decent but not as rich as some of the others. She was able to modify the reed to better meet her needs and she is able to play on it and stay relatively in tune (winter weather makes tuning difficult, so out of tune can be taken with a grain of salt). This company may be better for beginning oboists on a softer reed. The medium-hard reed that we ordered is decent, but could be better.

Very thin squawky tone. Certainly not a medium hard strength. Plus it barely measures 70mm - no room for adjustments. I had hoped to keep it for emergencies; but I’m not certain I could use it even for that

Nice reeds and decent price for a good reed

If you know what you're doing you can make your own reeds. If you don't then these are useless. If you don't know how to adjust and reshape a Cain read save your money and get a Legere synthetic reed at least they work right out of the box and the last longer then 10minutes before you have to change reeds.

Reeds are great BUT DO NOT buy them through amazon. They often arrive damaged.