I started playing bagpipe some time ago and saw you sold these, and I decided to buy some to see if they were any good.
They weren't, the first time, I bought 2 or 3 of these reeds, and there were big inconsistencies with how they looked and the sound was terrible, I was disappointed but didn't really have high hopes, later I bought a chanter from here that came with a reed, that reed was even worse than the first ones I ordered, I had a hard time getting it to play some of the notes, and at this point, I would say I'm good enough with the chanter to know it's not me doing anything wrong, the chanter worked perfectly fine, and anything else I've bought here is of the best quality.
I find it irresponsible and disappointing that a music site this good, chooses to sell these practice reeds, which usually are for beginners looking for a cheap start to a new hobby.
When I compare them to reeds I got from bagpipe-based sellers, the reeds I got elsewhere are so much better.
I see this product has gotten mostly good reviews, where people say they are good enough, there is always the chance I got unlucky twice, but if they consider the quality I saw in this product good enough, I need to inform complete beginners, that its a lot easier to have a good reed that's very easy to play when you first start out, and the reeds I got were mostly playable, but sounded like a dying cat and were hard to use in comparison to reeds bought elsewhere.
I encourage Thomann to find a different company to supply reeds, a company that actually makes good reeds, even if the price gets higher, at least people have an easier way to start playing this wonderful instrument.
to end this long spiel, I don't hate Thomann, everything I've bought from them has always been very good quality and has always worked, this is the only product I've bought from here where I was disappointed.
