Is anybody else out there having a terrible time getting used to the new D'Addario Select Jazz reeds? I bought two boxes of the same strength I played in RJS (3H unfiiled) and they are nothing like the brand I've played for years, to my ears and chops. I went down to 3M from 3H (unfiled) and the stuffiness was less but the overall character of the tone was very different from the RJS reeds still! Not sure what to do next - anybody had any experience finding reeds that play like the old RJS, and if so, what were they? So far, Java Red's are the only thing I've found that offer a comparable depth and tonal flexibility, but there's still something lacking with those...
BBJQSAX
I bought two boxes of my usual 3Ms and all 10 stunk. I pulled out a box of 3Ms that I'd purchased a year ago and I was 5/5. 
I'm not sure if they changed anything but I have had equally bad experience the last several months. The reeds seem dull and stuffy. For me, I have found the Vandoren ZZ's playing and feeling somewhat similar. The strength variance inside of a box seems wider with the Vandorens but I'm not getting any unplayable reeds.
Well I guess I'm in trouble after my current stash of RSJs is gone. I play 3S on tenor and also have found the Vandoren ZZ 2 1/2 a pretty good substitute. However, about the time I thought I was going to go with the ZZs, I started having trouble with them. I had bought one box to try and those were good but when I got the second box the trouble started. Going back to RSJ was like going home. if they have messed that up as it seems they have, I'm in trouble.
I really hope this isn't true. I mean why would they change the actual reeds when they have so many great players using them. Isn't there someone on this forum that works for them that can tell us what's going on.
I'm really skeptical. Just because they changed the box, all of a sudden the quality goes downhill?
I've noticed problems with other Rico/D'Addario reeds. I've had boxes of Hemke that have been unplayably inflexible, #3s that were harder than 4.5s etc etc.
I am loath to jump on any band-wagon about the re-packaged Jazz Select, but the first box I had in the new packaging, all the reeds are really duff, sort of lifeless and not comparable to an older box (which weren't that good anyway).
I would have thought that it must be a general problem with the available cane....who knows. I have taken it up with D'Addario in the UK who seem to be receptive to constructive criticism so far.
Also, I have recently had boxes of Vandoren tenor reeds that were very inflexible.
I am loath to jump on any band-wagon about the re-packaged Jazz Select, but the first box I had in the new packaging, all the reeds are really duff, sort of lifeless and not comparable to an older box (which weren't that good anyway).
I would have thought that it must be a general problem with the available cane....who knows. I have taken it up with D'Addario in the UK who seem to be receptive to constructive criticism so far.
Also, I have recently had boxes of Vandoren tenor reeds that were very inflexible.
I normally play Legere but for my occassional cane use I have been using the RSJ filed. My last box I got were the new ones and they all were terrible. I have since switched to Green Javas and so far, they are working great for for cane needs.
I have noticed problems with them for the past few months .... mostly the stuffiness ....when held up to light I am finding that, for some reason they are almost "heartless" ...for me, less heart = more stuffiness ..
I also bought 2 boxes of 3S's last week ...
I really like the liveliness of Vandoren Red Javas and, if I am not satisfied with these I may head back to the Vandorens .. (i only switched to the Rico's because my mpc maker toldme that is what he designs his mpc around) ...but VVandorens worked fine before and they will probably work fine again!
I also bought 2 boxes of 3S's last week ...
I really like the liveliness of Vandoren Red Javas and, if I am not satisfied with these I may head back to the Vandorens .. (i only switched to the Rico's because my mpc maker toldme that is what he designs his mpc around) ...but VVandorens worked fine before and they will probably work fine again!
sotw'ers love a good reed slam.
It ranks up there with KG and VII tenor slams, ebay hose jobs... and finding an opportunity to say yet again, "it's the archer, not the arrow".
It ranks up there with KG and VII tenor slams, ebay hose jobs... and finding an opportunity to say yet again, "it's the archer, not the arrow".
I thought I'd check this out for myself after reading another complaint thread, so I ordered a box. Same old packaging! So I ordered another box from a supplier that shows the new box. Same old box.
Then this complaint thread, so I just ordered another box, from yet a different source, seeing if I'll get the new box. I think I'll just keep ordering until I get a new box. Why not have a supply?
Then this complaint thread, so I just ordered another box, from yet a different source, seeing if I'll get the new box. I think I'll just keep ordering until I get a new box. Why not have a supply?
I just saw this thread, and yes, they are totally different. At least the boxes I've tried. I never bought into the reed voodoo that they changed with the packaging (like lavoz with the green oval being different than the later ones or the change from cardboard to plastic holders, etc) but it's definitely true for me in this case. I had been getting 4 and sometimes 5 out of 5 RJS 3M unfiled tenor reeds to work for years. The D'Darrio ones look different (lighter color, as someone said before "no heart") and play like paper. Just terrible. I'm hoping it is just a bad batch of cane and I've just gotten unlucky so far but I'm having a really hard time shelling out more money to find out.
I've been playing RSJ 3M unfilled pretty exclusively on alto and tenor for 10 years or so. Just bought an box of the new D'Addario altos, and I agree that they are indeed not the same reed. Don't really like them, some are playable, but then again so are the cheaper orange box Ricos. I've heard the same thing about the classic reserve reeds too. Ih8reeds
Good news, at least for me. I've been exploring TONS of different reeds since running into the issues with several boxes in a row of the Select Jazz reeds, and for now I've landed on LOVING the V16 3.5's! They are thicker at the tip than the RJS, which actually I prefer, sonically, especially given my horn tends to light up in the higher registers anyways! Please give this a listen and let me know what you think!
I've seen companies take the opportunity to change product when they change image, logos, or names. It DOES happen. And I've seen companies make changes with no change in image, name, or look of box. I've done both with my products. Depends on outside factors, or a lot of though and strategic planning, or with little strategic planning. Even the huge company Coke has done really stupid things. and they can afford all the image, marketing, and testing in the world.
It is so easy to doubt posts on a thread where you don't know the folks face to face. But I'm taken by the number of similar complaints. We don't have varying complaints like "squeaky" from one guy, "dead" from another guy, "bright" from a woman, "too hard" from another, "too soft from yet another".....so it does make me curious.
Tomorrow I am going to buy 3 more boxes from 3 different sellers to see if I can come up with a new style box.
If they changed, and if I don't like the change, I do get along with Java Green pretty well. Humans adapt pretty well, if there is a change for the worse most folks will, after getting used to a new, alternative reed, find themselves sounding like themselves again after a period of time.
It is so easy to doubt posts on a thread where you don't know the folks face to face. But I'm taken by the number of similar complaints. We don't have varying complaints like "squeaky" from one guy, "dead" from another guy, "bright" from a woman, "too hard" from another, "too soft from yet another".....so it does make me curious.
Tomorrow I am going to buy 3 more boxes from 3 different sellers to see if I can come up with a new style box.
If they changed, and if I don't like the change, I do get along with Java Green pretty well. Humans adapt pretty well, if there is a change for the worse most folks will, after getting used to a new, alternative reed, find themselves sounding like themselves again after a period of time.
Hello to All--
Kristen McKeon here. As I haven't had the pleasure of meeting some of you in person, I will mention that I'm a professional saxophonist working within product management on the D'Addario team.
I would like to sincerely thank you all for your willingness to passionately share your thoughts and experiences in a forum like this. I can assure you--my team and I learn constantly by having our ears open to what members of the woodwind community are saying, and we take discussion of this nature (positive and constructive) VERY seriously. Your musings are a source of great inspiration, problem solving, and growth for us. Cane, it's characteristics, and its behaviors remain areas requiring constant exploration across our entire industry, and I think that any member of any reed company would probably be the first to admit to a community of musicians like yourselves--we continue to have so much to learn about Arundo donax (and this will probably be true forever). Needless to say, it's a tough business for all of us!
I'm going to do my absolute best to give you honest, transparent insight into the topics that this thread has covered. If I don't address your ideas or questions directly in this isolated response, I would like to encourage you to email me at kristen.mckeon@daddario.com, and we can converse more. For all of you who have experienced quality issues with the new D'Addario Select Jazz reeds, I am not only encouraging you to write me, but I urge you to write to me directly (via email please), and we will try to diagnose what may have gone wrong for you.
First and foremost--there have been no deliberate changes to how the Select Jazz reeds are made, or their design. For those of you who have had negative experiences of late, this may be hard to believe, but I can publicly promise this entire community that we have not changed our processes for making the Select Jazz reeds in the slightest. The only thing that has changed is the packaging. It is true that packaging changes and product design changes can coincide, but I can say with great confidence that deliberate changes to our reed brands' geometry would be made very public. To reiterate, the Select Jazz reeds have not undergone a geometric design change, or a production line change to date.
To expand a bit on why we changed the SJ packaging: D'Addario purchased the Rico brand in 2004 (Jazz Is All is correct--the D'Addario logo has been a part of all of Rico's packaging since shortly after the acquisition), and about two years ago, the decision was made to change the name of our parent brand for woodwinds products from 'Rico' to 'D'Addario.' A LOT of thought, study, time, effort, and discussion went into this decision, but that is for another thread! In short, we wanted our premium jazz brand to more visually reflect the persona of D'Addario--hence the new look.
When we do have the opportunity to change a reed brand's design, the impetus always relates to the broadest, current reaction from the market to the product offering. For instance, when we re-launched the Rico Reserve and Rico Reserve Classic reeds for Bb clarinet in apx. 2009 (purple box and red box), we had had the opportunity to explore all the feedback we had received in a few years' span of time, and then make small tweaks to the design with the help of many artist testers. These tweaks were widely accepted to produce an improvement in playability. Fast forward to 2014--over the course of several more years (2010 or so to 2014) we continued to gather feedback (and also quite a bit of curiosity from those who never really gave us a chance before!). Our tester list expanded, our customer base expanded, our global reach expanded, and all of a sudden, we find ourselves having exponentially more information and feedback about what a game-changing Bb clarinet reed should sound, feel, and look like. So when our parent brand name changed from Rico to D'Addario, our need to repackage Reserve/Reserve Classic Bb clarinet reeds also provided a chance for us to make design upgrades also. The launch of the D'Addario clarinet reeds also marked the advent of a new technology that D'Addario pioneered--digital reed making. This is the singular most exciting thing that has happened for reed making to date. Our ability to repeat reed geometry and develop new designs is easily decades ahead of any other mass manufacturing reed-making technology out there. Our intent is to eventually migrate all of our reed brands (from Rico, to Select Jazz, to Reserve) to this new digital production line, but this will take some time (again, just to reiterate--Select Jazz reeds are not yet on these new machines).
The new D'Addario Reserve and Reserve Classic reeds for Bb clarinet are new designs, and they are enjoying tremendous success so far. It may seem like a lot of change in what seems like a short period of time (9 years seems like a lot longer when on the inside, I can assure you, haha), but bear this in mind--our brand (D'Addario Woodwinds, not Rico) is very young in this market by comparison to some of our competitors, and so our learning curve is steep...we actively iterate because we care deeply about getting better.
In the case of Select Jazz and also the Rico Reserve Classic alto saxophone reeds (now simply, D'Addario Reserve alto saxophone reeds), these reed lines have been largely successful (based on sales and feedback), and we have no desire to risk changing a proven design that is preferred by some of the finest saxophonists in the world. While we look forward to moving our successful lines to our new machinery over the next several years, if feedback and sales trends are predominantly positive, we have no reason to change the geometry.
So now onto the tougher areas to lend insight into--variability. I'm sure you ask: if there have been no deliberate changes to the reed design, how could I be having negative experiences? Here are a few statements to think about:
- While we own our own cane fields, agronomy programs, cane cutting processes, and obviously, our cane sourcing, this remains true: every single cane pole is unique--possessing unique internal and external characteristics that are largely out of our control.
- We can control the geometry of dry reeds to a very tight set of tolerances when cutting them, but the internal characteristics of the cane remains out of our control. Therefore, each reed reacts to moisture and vibration differently.
- While we can cut the reeds to perfect geometric specs, it all goes out the window once the cane has been exposed to moisture. The geometry of a reed post initial water exposure and play is forever changed afterwards. A reed can be cut literally perfectly by our golden engineering standards, but could still play poorly for some musicians during and after the break-in process. Perfect geometry merely improves your chances of this not happening.
- Once the reeds leave our factory, other variables can effect the reeds even before they're removed from the airtight packaging. We know this because we have experimented with cutting, measuring, and strength gauging reeds in California (where our production facility is), sending them to a different warehouse, letting them sit for awhile, and when we receive them back in California to measure them, they measure differently. We cannot control temperature of cargo transport or storage, retail partner storage conditions, shelf-time, or the processes that musicians have in place for breaking in and storing reeds (and just based on the vast range of break-in and storage techniques/ideas out there, I think that we can all agree that there is a chance that some of us may be handling this in a non-optimizing way).
- Many reed players know that humidity and moisture content changes greatly effect playability. You would be shocked at just how much of an effect that too much or too little moisture can have on your reeds' performance. A few humidity percentage point differences can simulate an entire half-strength difference to the musician.
- Last but not least, quality control mistakes can happen. There are real people on our team tirelessly working to make mass manufactured reeds available to a market of players whose livelihoods depend on that availability (single-reed making seems to largely be a dying art). We make mistakes sometimes, but we always, always try to make it right.
So what can be done?
First, continue to keep the conversation going. That's probably the singular most helpful thing that you can do for ensuring progress in your reed equipment over time. Obtaining greater knowledge about reed products takes a village--a village of musicians like us! I promise that we're listening.
Consider your break-in and storage routine, and try different approaches....especially if you find that the playing characteristics of your reeds are changing wildly after an initial few days of break-in (that's an indication that something in your storage routine could be disruptive to the reed's makeup). It's my opinion that there are a few very important factors for ensuring that reeds play at their individual best:
- A gradual break-in routine. For example (and this is an opinion--it has not been scientifically proven), I don't find logic in soaking a brand new reed that has been kept in an incredibly dry environment for, potentially, many years, for more than 30 seconds....if one soaks new reeds for hours having come from a very dry environment, of course the cane could freak out! This same logic applies to vibration also. Vibration does cause materials to break down. During the initial few days of a reed's playing life, the reed is most susceptible to change. How vibration breaks down a reed may not be evenly distributed throughout the reed, and so knowing that a reed is most vulnerable to change over the first few days, go easy on it.
- A flat table and tip (usually achieved with a humidity controlled reed case--try our RVCASE04) which goes hand-in-hand with humidity control. Humidity is nearly impossible to control when a reed is exposed to open air. Always use a mouthpiece cap when not actually playing. When you open a box of reeds and don't play all of them right away, put that opened box in a ziplock bag or piece of tuperware and throw in a humidifier of some sort! Otherwise, who knows....
In closing, I hope that some of you have found at least some of this helpful. I know it may not always seem like it, but it's a shared struggle for all of us--both outside the business and inside. The D'Addario family has spent millions on the development of the new digital machines, and they only address a few of so many variables the raw material our art relies on presents. And I know that you may wonder if your woes fall on deaf ears--they don't. As I mentioned initially--your feedback is a great source of inspiration for continuous improvement and innovation.
I look forward to continuing the conversation!
Cheers,
Kristen McKeon
D'Addario Woodwinds Product Specialist
Kristen McKeon here. As I haven't had the pleasure of meeting some of you in person, I will mention that I'm a professional saxophonist working within product management on the D'Addario team.
I would like to sincerely thank you all for your willingness to passionately share your thoughts and experiences in a forum like this. I can assure you--my team and I learn constantly by having our ears open to what members of the woodwind community are saying, and we take discussion of this nature (positive and constructive) VERY seriously. Your musings are a source of great inspiration, problem solving, and growth for us. Cane, it's characteristics, and its behaviors remain areas requiring constant exploration across our entire industry, and I think that any member of any reed company would probably be the first to admit to a community of musicians like yourselves--we continue to have so much to learn about Arundo donax (and this will probably be true forever). Needless to say, it's a tough business for all of us!
I'm going to do my absolute best to give you honest, transparent insight into the topics that this thread has covered. If I don't address your ideas or questions directly in this isolated response, I would like to encourage you to email me at kristen.mckeon@daddario.com, and we can converse more. For all of you who have experienced quality issues with the new D'Addario Select Jazz reeds, I am not only encouraging you to write me, but I urge you to write to me directly (via email please), and we will try to diagnose what may have gone wrong for you.
First and foremost--there have been no deliberate changes to how the Select Jazz reeds are made, or their design. For those of you who have had negative experiences of late, this may be hard to believe, but I can publicly promise this entire community that we have not changed our processes for making the Select Jazz reeds in the slightest. The only thing that has changed is the packaging. It is true that packaging changes and product design changes can coincide, but I can say with great confidence that deliberate changes to our reed brands' geometry would be made very public. To reiterate, the Select Jazz reeds have not undergone a geometric design change, or a production line change to date.
To expand a bit on why we changed the SJ packaging: D'Addario purchased the Rico brand in 2004 (Jazz Is All is correct--the D'Addario logo has been a part of all of Rico's packaging since shortly after the acquisition), and about two years ago, the decision was made to change the name of our parent brand for woodwinds products from 'Rico' to 'D'Addario.' A LOT of thought, study, time, effort, and discussion went into this decision, but that is for another thread! In short, we wanted our premium jazz brand to more visually reflect the persona of D'Addario--hence the new look.
When we do have the opportunity to change a reed brand's design, the impetus always relates to the broadest, current reaction from the market to the product offering. For instance, when we re-launched the Rico Reserve and Rico Reserve Classic reeds for Bb clarinet in apx. 2009 (purple box and red box), we had had the opportunity to explore all the feedback we had received in a few years' span of time, and then make small tweaks to the design with the help of many artist testers. These tweaks were widely accepted to produce an improvement in playability. Fast forward to 2014--over the course of several more years (2010 or so to 2014) we continued to gather feedback (and also quite a bit of curiosity from those who never really gave us a chance before!). Our tester list expanded, our customer base expanded, our global reach expanded, and all of a sudden, we find ourselves having exponentially more information and feedback about what a game-changing Bb clarinet reed should sound, feel, and look like. So when our parent brand name changed from Rico to D'Addario, our need to repackage Reserve/Reserve Classic Bb clarinet reeds also provided a chance for us to make design upgrades also. The launch of the D'Addario clarinet reeds also marked the advent of a new technology that D'Addario pioneered--digital reed making. This is the singular most exciting thing that has happened for reed making to date. Our ability to repeat reed geometry and develop new designs is easily decades ahead of any other mass manufacturing reed-making technology out there. Our intent is to eventually migrate all of our reed brands (from Rico, to Select Jazz, to Reserve) to this new digital production line, but this will take some time (again, just to reiterate--Select Jazz reeds are not yet on these new machines).
The new D'Addario Reserve and Reserve Classic reeds for Bb clarinet are new designs, and they are enjoying tremendous success so far. It may seem like a lot of change in what seems like a short period of time (9 years seems like a lot longer when on the inside, I can assure you, haha), but bear this in mind--our brand (D'Addario Woodwinds, not Rico) is very young in this market by comparison to some of our competitors, and so our learning curve is steep...we actively iterate because we care deeply about getting better.
In the case of Select Jazz and also the Rico Reserve Classic alto saxophone reeds (now simply, D'Addario Reserve alto saxophone reeds), these reed lines have been largely successful (based on sales and feedback), and we have no desire to risk changing a proven design that is preferred by some of the finest saxophonists in the world. While we look forward to moving our successful lines to our new machinery over the next several years, if feedback and sales trends are predominantly positive, we have no reason to change the geometry.
So now onto the tougher areas to lend insight into--variability. I'm sure you ask: if there have been no deliberate changes to the reed design, how could I be having negative experiences? Here are a few statements to think about:
- While we own our own cane fields, agronomy programs, cane cutting processes, and obviously, our cane sourcing, this remains true: every single cane pole is unique--possessing unique internal and external characteristics that are largely out of our control.
- We can control the geometry of dry reeds to a very tight set of tolerances when cutting them, but the internal characteristics of the cane remains out of our control. Therefore, each reed reacts to moisture and vibration differently.
- While we can cut the reeds to perfect geometric specs, it all goes out the window once the cane has been exposed to moisture. The geometry of a reed post initial water exposure and play is forever changed afterwards. A reed can be cut literally perfectly by our golden engineering standards, but could still play poorly for some musicians during and after the break-in process. Perfect geometry merely improves your chances of this not happening.
- Once the reeds leave our factory, other variables can effect the reeds even before they're removed from the airtight packaging. We know this because we have experimented with cutting, measuring, and strength gauging reeds in California (where our production facility is), sending them to a different warehouse, letting them sit for awhile, and when we receive them back in California to measure them, they measure differently. We cannot control temperature of cargo transport or storage, retail partner storage conditions, shelf-time, or the processes that musicians have in place for breaking in and storing reeds (and just based on the vast range of break-in and storage techniques/ideas out there, I think that we can all agree that there is a chance that some of us may be handling this in a non-optimizing way).
- Many reed players know that humidity and moisture content changes greatly effect playability. You would be shocked at just how much of an effect that too much or too little moisture can have on your reeds' performance. A few humidity percentage point differences can simulate an entire half-strength difference to the musician.
- Last but not least, quality control mistakes can happen. There are real people on our team tirelessly working to make mass manufactured reeds available to a market of players whose livelihoods depend on that availability (single-reed making seems to largely be a dying art). We make mistakes sometimes, but we always, always try to make it right.
So what can be done?
First, continue to keep the conversation going. That's probably the singular most helpful thing that you can do for ensuring progress in your reed equipment over time. Obtaining greater knowledge about reed products takes a village--a village of musicians like us! I promise that we're listening.
Consider your break-in and storage routine, and try different approaches....especially if you find that the playing characteristics of your reeds are changing wildly after an initial few days of break-in (that's an indication that something in your storage routine could be disruptive to the reed's makeup). It's my opinion that there are a few very important factors for ensuring that reeds play at their individual best:
- A gradual break-in routine. For example (and this is an opinion--it has not been scientifically proven), I don't find logic in soaking a brand new reed that has been kept in an incredibly dry environment for, potentially, many years, for more than 30 seconds....if one soaks new reeds for hours having come from a very dry environment, of course the cane could freak out! This same logic applies to vibration also. Vibration does cause materials to break down. During the initial few days of a reed's playing life, the reed is most susceptible to change. How vibration breaks down a reed may not be evenly distributed throughout the reed, and so knowing that a reed is most vulnerable to change over the first few days, go easy on it.
- A flat table and tip (usually achieved with a humidity controlled reed case--try our RVCASE04) which goes hand-in-hand with humidity control. Humidity is nearly impossible to control when a reed is exposed to open air. Always use a mouthpiece cap when not actually playing. When you open a box of reeds and don't play all of them right away, put that opened box in a ziplock bag or piece of tuperware and throw in a humidifier of some sort! Otherwise, who knows....
In closing, I hope that some of you have found at least some of this helpful. I know it may not always seem like it, but it's a shared struggle for all of us--both outside the business and inside. The D'Addario family has spent millions on the development of the new digital machines, and they only address a few of so many variables the raw material our art relies on presents. And I know that you may wonder if your woes fall on deaf ears--they don't. As I mentioned initially--your feedback is a great source of inspiration for continuous improvement and innovation.
I look forward to continuing the conversation!
Cheers,
Kristen McKeon
D'Addario Woodwinds Product Specialist
Kristen thanks for such a detailed response. I must say I've noticed no change in the quality of the SJ reeds, my only wish is they would go up another strength, I find some of the 4's a little soft at times.
Guys, take Kristen up on her offer for the discussion, there are not many companies that would so willingly engage with SOTW's like this!
Guys, take Kristen up on her offer for the discussion, there are not many companies that would so willingly engage with SOTW's like this!
Kristen, it's great to hear from you, and especially in this Forum. I hope you've been well since our last round of emails. Thank you so much for such a detailed and informative response. It is a huge relief to know that the change in performance some of us here have experienced is not in any part due to a change in the design of the reeds we have loved for so long!
+1
But, its the Archer, and it's the bow, and its the arrow.
I always wonder about the prevailing thought that companies want to make their products worse, in order to save on cost. Yes it has happened in our history. GM was famous for doing this, when they had a huge, and solid, and reliable piece of marketshare. They could get away with it and did for that reason, for a long time. Big time brand loyalty. But that's the exception to the rule, overall. All the while, Toyota was doing the opposite. The rest is history.
But folks, really, how long would it take for players to universally "find out" that reeds were now being made to lower, poorer standards, causing the company to lose swaths of market through word or mouth, in the medium and long run?
You may respond that they are now looking to reach a different market segment, the players who know no better, or some such rationale. For this product, in this market, I doubt that would work for long.
But, its the Archer, and it's the bow, and its the arrow.
I always wonder about the prevailing thought that companies want to make their products worse, in order to save on cost. Yes it has happened in our history. GM was famous for doing this, when they had a huge, and solid, and reliable piece of marketshare. They could get away with it and did for that reason, for a long time. Big time brand loyalty. But that's the exception to the rule, overall. All the while, Toyota was doing the opposite. The rest is history.
But folks, really, how long would it take for players to universally "find out" that reeds were now being made to lower, poorer standards, causing the company to lose swaths of market through word or mouth, in the medium and long run?
You may respond that they are now looking to reach a different market segment, the players who know no better, or some such rationale. For this product, in this market, I doubt that would work for long.
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