choosing the right type of reed

[km]

any advice?

as I read it, the proportion of mediocre reeds in a given box of 5 is fairly high; so for an individual reed the likelihood of it being good is ~ 50%

so - how to try out one kind against another, to establish a personal preference?

If I were to buy a rico #2, a rico royal #2 and a rico jazz select #2 or equivalent and wet them all and try them successively in the same mouthpiece, how do I assess how much the difference is within-type variation and how much is between-type difference - other than buying 5 of each to test?

how have others resolved on a personal preference?

km

[kcp]

km, sorry to be so vague but there are no easy answer to your question. Why there are so many different kinds of reeds is to meet the different kinds of needs and preferences of players.

As for detecting the consistency of reeds that too isn't easy to determinate either. Reeds are made of cane and so, there are no two reeds exactly the same. That's why you will find inconsistency within the same box of reeds.... unless you wanna go for syntethic reeds.

Taste and preferences can change over with time - I've changed type of reeds at least 4 or 5 times over the years. I also use different brands of reeds for tenor, alto or baritone sax and I may use a different kind of reed depending on the choice of mouthpiece or even according to the type of performance that I'm doing.

The best thing is to try out different kinds of reeds. We have a forum wich discusses reeds (http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=43) and you can also use the Search function (see menu bar above) to find out about particular brand of reeds to help you decide what brands suit your needs best.