| Location: Spokane, WA (but product is available through various retailers) (Map marker is approximate.) |
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| Web Site: jonesdoublereed.com |
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Variant Reeds Sold: Unknown |
| Will not use again | Not so hot | OK | Pretty good | Great! | |
| TOTALS | 28 | 16 | 24 | 22 | 34 |
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cokomo January 31, 2012: Lyn Davies I don’t know if the reed stock is different or what, but I have just purchased three reeds from Rush’s and the next day two of them were cracked.
geekygeek January 28, 2012: Jones Double Reed Products Good for beginners, and the medium soft is quite easily to blow on. Pretty durable and consistent. They’re good beginner reeds but the sound quality isn’t so fantastic. I use just a regular knife (even though you should buy a...
Billerbeck January 21, 2012: Billerbeck Oboe Reeds Thank you to many for your valuable feedback. It is much appreciated.
Anonymous January 14, 2012: SUGGESTION BOX Thank you so much for this site. I have a limited # of manufacturers where I lived, and they all sound bad( Jones, Emerald, Richards). Anyway, you could improve the collected ratings page by sepeating them by area(USA, Asia, Australia, Canada,... Anonymous January 14, 2012: The Reedmaker For me, these reeds are the best. I ordered three reeds from him and two of them were too hard, so I sent them back, and he scraped more and threw another one in! Every one of them were the best sounding reeds I have played so far, not that I have...
Peter VandeBurgt January 14, 2012: SUGGESTION BOX The link to my eBay site has changed; here’s the new link. Thanks for good work! http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2807606 26694?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:I T&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l264 9 Peter VandeBurgt January 14, 2012: SUGGESTION BOX http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2807606 26694?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:I T&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l264 9
Klezmer January 4, 2012: Reed Expression Normall have made my own for years, but do not have the time. I purchased 5 medium-soft German scrape reeds. I just adjusted them to my own chops and all five play very well. They respond easy and have very good intonation. I am trying a couple EH...Support open education with the Neoclassical Theme.
43 comments
Good for beginners, and the medium soft is quite easily to blow on. Pretty durable and consistent. They’re good beginner reeds but the sound quality isn’t so fantastic. I use just a regular knife (even though you should buy a special knife) to adjust it and it sounds way better. No more duck sounds, and it can attack the low notes really well.
For one year I used these reeds. They are easy to play on, but the sound isn’t too fantastic. They are good beginner reeds. They are more consistant than other reed brands I’ve used, but they can’t play very loud and are sometimes quite unstable.
I have only purchased Jones twice actually, and I am not buying that brand again. When I TRIED to play on them I could not make a note and after that they both chipped. In my opinion it was a waste of money. Now I am trying to find a better brand. Any suggestions?
Jones reeds are widely available and good, cheap commercial reeds for beginner to intermediate players if you like a narrow shape. They are great if you can adjust reeds much at all. They tend to be more consistent and reliable than many handmade reeds available from double reed catalog companies.
Spencer, I was buying reeds off Amazon, and I saw some Artist ones, check it out. : )
HEY, Anonymous, why don’t you put your level, or how often you play, or how many reed makers you’ve used? Why don’t you ” Own up to your ratings”!
The first reed I have ever used were Jones. I think they work very well, and they last! I was using Rico, but I am switching back to Jones. I suggest them for any oboe player.
These reeds are generally good for beginners, but once you experiment with other brands you see a BIG difference in your sound.
mine broke very soon, although the sound at first was really good.
I recently started using Jones Medium reeds as a convenience. I must say that the last three have all been excellent right after a good soak. I’m only an intermediate player but I love the way they sound so far. I will continue purchasing them.
For many years, Jones Double Reeds were the most reliable machine manufactured reeds out there. They were especially good in the mid-late 80s when a certain quality control fellow worked for them. IMO, the bassoon reeds were more consistent than the oboe, but usually a medium or medium soft reed played at least adequately right out of the box, quite necessary for youngsters and music teachers unable to work on them. Harder reeds were easily adjusted into decent reeds by a knowledgeable reedmaker. After owner Wendel Jones retired a few years ago is when the quality drastically dropped. It seemed the new owners thought they had to “fix” something that wasn’t broken. Now, if I am to interpret the prior message correctly, we should be looking forward to an improved product once again. My recollection was that during the “down time,” they were generally too open, too resistant, yet not easily re-workable with too much cane out of the wrong places to be satisfactorily adjusted. I believe I came across a Jones reed in the past few months that was looking and acting more like the Jones reeds of old, so hopefully things are indeed changing for the better. As for the youngster who plays on cracked reeds for at least a week: you are playing with fire, and better off if the reed dies instantly! Also, although a cracked reed can be a result of the manufacturing process (usually something in the gouge), it is way more often the fault of the player. When a reed is too closed, soak it more–do not pinch the sides! If a reed is too open, make sure it is thoroughly soaked (several minutes in warm water) before you go pinching it shut.
As a representative of Jones Double Reed Products, I would like to set the record straight. The original founder has once again taken ownership of the business. Our website is up and running and we have been working diligently to solve the problems mentioned in this blog. Please be assured that user feedback is important to us and feel free to contact our company directly with any future problems regarding the quality of our products.
my band director recommanded them to me
when i started playing oboe
they were okay~…
but… i would not recommand it to people other than beginners.
How reliable are the star ratings when people can merely go on, give a “will not use again” rating, and not back it up with any facts or examples? Not very useful or reliable. Anybody with the support system to “stuff the ballot box” can come out on top. Own up to your ratings, or this is totally unreliable.
I don’t like these reeds. Very incosistent sound. One was flat (very very flat), one was very difficult to play. CRACKS VERY EASILY. I had one that lasted 2 months but that was the only good one. Don’t recomend try a handmade instead.
Adequate — barely — with a lot of adjustment. OTOH, the mediocrity is consistent, and they are widely available and cheap.
My band director reccomended for me to use Jones reeds.They were great until I got a think that most oboe players despise, a crack.Usually i can play for about a week if my reed has a crack in it but with the jones my oboe wont speak and if it does it sounds like a shriek. Its good but it will cost you tons.
Alright, let’s wind the clock back to 2003. I’m a beginning oboe, in 5th grade. I tried to make a noise, but I needed to put some kind of wood thing in the oboe, the one I ended up with was made by Jones. To put it nicely, it was crap. It died easily, sounded bad, (even to my beginning oboe tone-deaf ears) and squeaked like a mouse that just won’t shut up.
Fast forward to present day. I gave Jones one more shot a few months ago, on the off-chance that the reed was fine and my oboe/me was the problem. It still sucked. Don’t get Jones unless you have cash to buy a new reed daily, abhor tone, and have a punishment love that just can’t be quenched.
Jones Double Reed Products is open for business after a short hiatus. There will be no retail sales for the immediate future but you will once again be able to find Jones reeds at your local retail stores.
try rigotti cane. it has worked wonders for my Loree oboe! Rigotti produces a nice dark and full sound with a beautiful upper register. Highly recommended.
Work after they’ve been broken in for like a second and then they are too soft. Great for intermediate players who are adjusting to harder reeds.
Jones is out of business. Please remove from company and comment list.
They were great at the beginning, but after I started to try to get a better sound and started using my school’s better wood oboe, they didn’t work quite as well.
Bottom line: Good emergency concert reed.
On the other hand, I can’t order them anymore from the two websites I used to go to. What happened?
by the time I’ve broken them in, they’ve closed.
I’ve used Jones oboe reeds for as long as I can remember. I’ve tried a lot of other brands and Jones seem to be the only ones that really work for me. And they have to work well… I got a scholarship on oboe to Cal State Fullerton using a Jones reed…
i used them when i was a beginner, but later on i realized that they werent so great for trying to achieve a maturer oboe sound. i guess they’re OK for students, but they do last long.
one of my band directors asked what kind of reed i used when i was a beginner, and when i said, “jones”, his reaction was “oh dear”…
Yeah, i’ve tried the hard ones and they collapse really fast. I’ve once encounter whereby the medium is actually harder than the hard. Which is quite ridiculous. Overall, i love jones because i’ve been using it for many years, its just try and play kinda thing. But since jones’ is like closed down already.. its a good time to try others
The regular series is a good beginner reed because they are easy to play on, but they often have a shrill tone. The artist series is a lot better, but you never know if you’re going to get a good reed or not.
I tended to like the Artist brand Jones reeds, and they work pretty well for a intermediate to advanced student, but I found they had a reliability problem (some were great, others were just “okay”).
Jones now has seemed to drop off the face of the earth. About 4 months ago, for about 6 weeks, they had a production problem which prevented them from making reeds. They started again in late July, but as of mid-September, they have not been returning phone calls, shipping now reeds, answering their phones, etc.. Now I believe that they have gone out of business.
I do not like the regular jones reeds. They are ok for beginers who are just learning how to produce a sound. However,…. the Artist Reeds by Jones work very nicely. I have played most of the time on them and they seem to work fine. The only problem is that right now the jones company is so fa behind in shipping and making reeds that they are only making the student regular reeds and have stopped production on the artist series. any suggestions as to a better brand???
What retailers sell them?
Is Jones out of business? Website no longer seems to exist?
Jones website no longer works. Are they closing the doors as rumor has it?
Jones will make an okay sound, but try not to use it! It will only make the nice sound if you pinch it, and if you get older and more serious into oboe, you embouchure will get completely screwed up, then your college professors (me) will have to teach you the right way! Don’t buy a Jones!
I have played oboe for four years, and all the time I’ve been trying to find a great reed. Out of the reeds that I’ve tried, Jones seems the best (only if it’s their medium hard). I’ve only tried about four or five brands of reed though. It is great for beginners, but right now I would like to find one with more consistent tone quality (about half have good tone). They usually only last me one to three months though (I play every day for fourty-five minutes to an hour or two).
I started on these reeds, in fact a Jones was the reed I received when we bought my oboe. Now I really don’t like them because they are very squeky. They’re good if you’re just starting and aren’t sure what to buy b/c they don’t break too easily…
I found there was no hear to my pupils reed when i played on it. In turn she had problems with both tone and intonation.
don’t last long, but med-hard produses nice tone for begginers, hard collapses quickly
I have an oboe performance degree and teach a large studio — I’m constantly chasing my students away from Jones reeds. I am incapable of producing a decent sound on them, so you can imagine how a student sounds!
Note I am a complete beginner and judge my comments accordingly!
My Fox 330 came with a Fox reed and one Jones Med-Soft. I had a hard time making a consistent tone with the Fox reed, and when I switched to the Jones it immediately sounded better. So, for a complete newbie, it seems to be a better reed than a factory reed.
Every Jones reed I’ve bought has been extremely short-lived, the main problem being that the reed collapsed. I find that even the harder strengths play with a very thin sound, as if the reed is too soft for you. I really don’t recommend them.
Reeds have worked well for a small child learning the oboe. However, I think she needs to go onto a better reed now as they seem to be squeaky. Consistent reed and would recommend. Quite cheap too.
18 month newbie – found Jones medium & medium hard pretty reliable during last year of embouchure development, high percentage of them worked OK right out of the box and blew in easily, but dynamic range and colour weakened quickly after blowing in. Last three months embouchure stronger, reeds collapsing, had to move on. Good hard plastic box for storing reed, although hinges break easily, tape can fix. Good beginners reed.