Hi. I wonder if the old rico reeds that many great saxophonist as Coltrane, Sonny Rollins and hank Mobley used are pretty similar with the current rico royal reeds. If not what reed do you think fit the best with the old rico reed? Thank you
Grumps, I had exactly the same experience. I'm done with Rico now, and I'm on Vandoren's for SATB. I just find that the quality of cane and consistency is much better and (most importantly) I prefer the sound that I get with them.Grumps said:No. The current Rico Royal reeds are complete and utter garbage. I had loads of old boxes of them that I had hoarded and played them for decades, but when I ran out a couple of years ago I had to try their latest offerings. I was lucky to find one playable reed out of three boxes. Others who have played them for as long as I will tell you the same. Some trace the decline to the purchase of the company by D'Addario; a guitar string maker. I now use Alexander Superials and have had good experiences with them over the last year or so.