Home > Users' voice

Comments from Reed Meister users

Masayuki Nomachi,
Chairman, Kochi Clarinet Association

Cutting the fibrovascular bundle to adjust the balance? It was never heard of and sounded suspicious. But my curiosity made me start communication with Hanai-san around October of 2008. During my forty years of playing clarinet, much cost and effort went to reed adjustments. With Reed Meister, the things I have relied on with my experience are clearly visible on a PC monitor, enabling incredible speed in reed adjustments. In addition, including this to the current adjustment process, I no longer have problem with reeds that I use for performances as well. The biggest part that was gained for our research is where the causes were not clear, Reed Meister clearly depicted the problems. The results were collected and was published in "For struggling clarinet lovers Ver. 1" and in August, Ver.9 was published with further Reed Meister's findings and updates. We strongly recommend Reed Meister to all single reed instrument players. You will be amazed with Reed Meister.


Haruhiko Okamatsu
Former Chairman, Kochi Clarinet Association

I was completely astounded by the scientific approach and the idea of cutting the fibrovascular bundle, rather than relying on intuition and experience. Selecting and adjusting a reed is an undying issue for reed instrument players and with Reed Meister this burden is lightened considerably. When I used a Reed Meister adjusted reed for the first time, I wondered why is was felt so good while playing and was surprised to see how easily and well it worked compared to the difficulties I had in trying other ways to adjust reeds until now. Even for a person who cannot play instruments, the results can be seen visually. Reed Meister is a useful tool for instructors as well.


Tomonori Nose
Adviser of brass band, Nose Junior High School, Konan, Kochi Prefecture

I started using Reed Meister in the beginning of June. My thoughts were that it is very easy to operate even for a junior high school student. It takes a lot of experience to re-adjust a reed using a knife, but with Reed Meister a reed can be easily adjusted in a short time by a less experienced player like a junior high school student. Also, because Reed Meister doesnft need any instruments to make adjustments, reeds can be fixed at home after practice for the next day's session. Supporting all types of single reeds is also an advantage. By referring to "For struggling clarinet lovers", it is possible to adjust reeds to a very high quality. As a result, by enabling the increase in number of reeds available for practice, Reed Meister has eliminated the risk for junior high school students to damage reeds from too much practice before a performance. In addition, Reed Meister has helped with cost reduction. The monthly cost for reeds is very high as we have over 60 members in our band. With the use of Reed Meister we were able to greatly reduce this expense. Reed Meister is easy to carry around as well; we bring the unit on our trips and tours so that we can adjust our reeds anytime. It is a great device not just for a single reed player but for school bands as well.



Yuko Oara
Adviser of brass band in Tachikawa Junior High School, Tokushima, Tokushima Prefecture

Since I do not play a reed instrument, every time a reed was in need of tweaking, I had to rely on our instructor. When the sound of a studentfs instrument deteriorates, all I could do was ask them if their reeds were okay and then leave the rest up to them. By using Reed Meister, even someone like me who doesnft play an instrument can make adjustment to reeds and when I am busy I can leave the simple and easy task to the students themselves. There is nothing that can take the place of the smiles of the students after playing with the adjusted reeds. On July 3rd which was a break during final exam week, I made a visit to a junior high school where a friend works and did reed adjustments with Reed Meister. After doing reed adjustments for the first time at another school and seeing the studentfs smiles and amazement with their instrumentfs sound improvement, I now know how the instructor who had been working so hard to adjust reeds felt. There were many students so it took a while to adjust all the reeds, but doing this really made me feel good. Seeing this effect before your own eyes really made me happy. It made me appreciate all the hard work the instructor had done all over again. My friend at the school wanted to purchase Reed Meister so I helped her to order it right away. This was a very valuable purchase and I want to thank the people involved with this product. Reed Meister has become an indispensable device to have in our school.


Miyuki Hari
Adviser of brass band, Tsuda Junior High School, Tokushima, Tokushima Prefecture

When adjustments are made, students all claimed it became easer to play the instrument.


Taketoshi Hamada
Adviser of brass band, Joto Junior High School in Kochi, Kochi Prefecture

To begin, I think that Reed Meister is fantastic in the fact that its operation is simple and easy enough for junior high school students to learn. Until they got used to it, it took close to an hour to adjust one reed, but the more experienced students were able to do the task in just a few minutes. Even seventh graders who just started playing only a few months ago (with the assistance of older students) were able to make reed adjustments on their own. Most importantly, I feel that the students have become more independent in regards to reed adjustments. Probably the biggest gain from this is that until now, the students thought that reed adjustments were something that was supposed to be done by their teacher, but this trend has changed to an gI can do it myselfh kind of proactive thinking. However, some students tend to cut the tip too deeply as a result of trying to make their instrument sound better, so I feel that the instructors should monitor their student's while doing adjustments (in addition to their normal teaching of sound quality). Until last year, when a student came to me saying that they didnft have any good reeds left and wanted me to buy them more, all I could say to them was to endure because we were out of budget. This year, thanks to Reed Meister, the amount of boxes of reed we purchased has decreased considerably. This device would be really good for schools with a limited budget and also good for the environment as well.

9th grade high school Clarinet player

The first time I used Reed Meister was when there was a demonstration for the device at my school. At first I was very cautious in using it. But once I got used to it, I was able use it easily and had fun too. The reed I worked on at the time was the reed I had the most difficulties with. I was very surprised that even with that reed; Reed Meister transformed it into a good one. Blowing with the reed became very smooth and easy. However I also found that if I adjusted an already good reed with Reed Meister, the sound became strange or the reed became too thin. Even so, I believe Reed Meister is definitely a great ally to us clarinet and saxophone players.

9th grade high school Clarinet player

I had some difficulty in setting my reed on Reed Meister. However, the operation itself was fun like playing a game. After adjustment, the reed made blowing a lot smoother than before. But I felt that you need to be careful of over adjusting, making the air go in too much and making the sound rough. I think that Reed Meister is a fantastic machine because itfs fun to work with and it makes blowing very smooth. I want to keep using it a lot from now.


8th grade Junior high school Clarinet player

Ifm very happy that I have more reeds that I can play with by using Reed Meister. At first, I had doubts that Reed Meister would really make blowing easier, but after adjusting my reed with it, I was surprised with how it became so much easier to blow.


8th grade Junior high school baritone saxophone player

After trying the adjusted reed, I found that it was much easier to blow and the sound improved. It has also made tonguing easier and my breath last longer, reducing the number of breaths. Reed Meister has transformed my reed into a good one; this drastic change can only be experienced by actually adjusting a reed with it.


7th grade Junior high school bass clarinet player

When I handed my teacher a reed that was a little harder and thicker than usual, it took about five minutes to adjust it. The reed was a bad one, but after playing with it after adjustment, it became one that I could use at a performance.