I always love trying different shaper tips–not only do they offer me different options and “feels”, but they can feel different on different gouges, so I often revisit unused shaper tips when I redo my gouge.
Having recently gotten both of my gouges worked on, I went back through my shaper tip collection to see how things felt, and I’ve decided that my Ruth shaper tip makes absolutely fabulous reeds….that I can’t play.
For my mouth and playing, the Ruth always feels too big and too wide for really focused playing. I love the sound of the reeds it makes–they have a depth and complexity to them that’s really appealing. But for me, they just don’t feel perfectly comfortable.
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How do you know if you'll like an oboe reed before you play it? You can't. When the rubber finally hits the road, it hardly matters if the reed is a great one, perfectly customized to your every desire, if it just plain doesn't work well for you. 
My name is Maryn Leister. I am a graduate of the Juilliard Pre-College Division and the Eastman School of Music, where I was a student of Richard Killmer. After graduating from college, I lived in Nashville, TN, then headed to Knoxville, TN, New York City, and finally Chicago...
