Reed Cases by WoodWindDesign

After having developed a complete range of very light and compact in-instrument-transport carbon instrument stands for virtually all wood and brass wind instruments, Gijs van Leeuwen, originally a clarinettist and clarinetteacher, found time and inspiration to develop a complete new and surprising, and patented, concept for single reed cases.

Reed cases for single reeds that actually do something for your reeds: ReeGenerator. The convex reed bed will lift the tip of your reed during the drying process. The reed will be more open for the next use, and you will have more to work with.

reed case

reed case

Price range: € 54.00 through € 122.00 VAT is only charged for EU orders
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
ReeGenerator

ReeGenerator

Price range: € 60.00 through € 145.00 VAT is only charged for EU orders
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
ReeGenerator Testcase

ReeGenerator Testcase

Price range: € 60.00 through € 80.00 VAT is only charged for EU orders
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Tiny reed case

Tiny reed case

Price range: € 54.00 through € 63.00 VAT is only charged for EU orders
Select options
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page

Better & Longer lasting reed cases

Having learned to make his own reeds early in his studies, the perfection of this craft has always been a constant factor in his professional life. This to the extent, that he has been contemplating on starting a reed company, aimed at professionals that were willing to spend $ 25 for one hand build reed that is incomparably better and longer lasting than the best reed in any box of 10 reeds from any of the big companies. But life and work got in the way of this idea.

Still, reeds stayed at the back of his mind, and there are things that can be done about the quality of the current -cane or synthetic- reeds, that enhance the playability as well as the longevity of any given reed. Without (or apart from) sanding, balancing, carefully breaking in and humidity controlled storing.

Literally the basis and the start of every reed is the flat bottom or table. Without it being 100% flat, straight and smooth, it will not cooperate effectively with the carefully 1/1000 mm CNC machined mouthpieces of today.

Quality Reed Cases that matter

Half of the time of hand building a single reed is (or should be) dedicated to this part, in several stages, before making the vamp comes in sight. This could be also done faster, with other machines and the right intentions, on the large scale of the big companies. But, allas, currently it is not done. Speed and quantity seem to be more important than quality. Thus, for most single reed players the reeds in the boxes are a given.

Patented ReeGenerator reed cases

The patented ReeGenerator reed cases that Gijs developed, tackle two sides of one problem of the single reeds, giving the reeds a longer working life and more “springiness”, more resilience.

A             Every reed,  when it is played, bends towards the mouthpiece, effectively closing the tip   opening more and more. Storing the reed on a flat surface does literally 100% nothing to restore the straight flatness of the surface.
This goes for all reeds, big and small, hand build or machine milled.

B             The vast majority of commercial reeds are already bent towards the mouthpiece before the first note is played, often 20-40% of the mouthpieces’ tip opening. You can check this yourself: place a new reed on a flat profile, and look under the reed. The result: in this respect and compared to a straight handmade reed, a new reed from a commercial box is already “old”. When you have not played a single handmade reed in your life, you have no idea what you are missing, and how your mouthpiece could work.

Counter the tip closing development of the reed

The patented ReeGenerator reed cases move away from the false axioma, that a reed case should be flat and straight. On the contrary, the reed bed should counter the “tip closing” development of the reed. It should bend the tip of the reed up, whilst drying. This restores the original tip opening, or makes it even a tiy bit more open, depending on the exact shape of the reed bed.
This is basically the same powerful technique as Steinway uses to form the bent shape of the grand pianos out of straight timber.

Every player is unique. So how to choose which geometry of reed bed is the one for you?

Well, with one of our test cases with a variety of reed beds.

And when you’re perfectly happy with the reeds that you have, and you don’t want any special treatment, that is no problem. WoodWindDesign has also reed cases without magic.

Other innovative WoodWindDesign Products for Flute players

  • DeGrav playing support, takes 100 % of the instrument weight off your thumb and shoulders, also available for alto and bass flute, clarinets, oboes, saxophones and bassoon;      
  • The New Standard, stands for music, tablet, microphone and accessories;
  • Dutch ButtLift and Musicians’ Throne, two solutions for lousy chairs that we have to deal with.

So why choose one or more WoodWindDesign instrument stands?

  • virtually no added weight
  • zero extra luggage
  • no extra checking in at the airport
  • always your stand at hand
  • safe, stable & reliable
  • designed by a musician for musicians
  • made with strong, light and high quality carbon tubes
  • beautiful minimalistic design
  • made in the Netherlands