Welcome to Harvard Double Reeds!

Shaper Tips Available for Pre-Order

The day is here. Check out what John Ferrillo has to say about the incoming Shaper Tips!

Or skip right to the pre-order. Available Shapers are JF-R, JF-RN, and the JF-RO.

Play Video

Guillotine by Harvard Double Reeds

New Year, New Product! This guillotine, newly developed by Harvard Double Reeds with help of local machinists, has a curved cutting blade secured to a light base. The block to hold the cane is adjustable so as to suit your cane length needs. Available Here!

Personalized Payments

There is a new payment link to use for paying repair invoices or other custom transactions. This is intended to take place of the personalized payments option offered previously. Use the following button to access the payment portal:

English Horn Reed Makers!

If you love your Harvard Double Reeds Gouger for oboe cane, consider the Harvard Double Reeds Gouger for English Horn cane. A requirement of five people are needed to initiate an order. If you wish to be place on our waitlist, contact me at aquat.hdr@gmail.com

Used HDR Gouging Machine?

If you have an HDR gouging machine you’re no longer using and would be interested in selling it, please contact us so we can help refurbish it (if necessary) and find a buyer. You can contact our business manager at aquat.hdr@gmail.com

Seeking to have a purchase shipped internationally?

For our international customers, please email us at aquat.hdr@gmail.com to make an inquiry. We can discuss your options and see if we can make payment and shipping arrangements that work for you!

A blue briefcase belonging to a professional oboist sitting on a wooden bench.

Are You Concerned about Your Oboe Cracking this Winter?

Do you live in a cold, dry Northern climate? Do you have to travel by car, foot or mass transit in the winter? We are excited to offer the newly developed My Musette: a pouch for your oboe that will help keep it safe and reduce the likelihood of cracks. This is a passive system, requiring no batteries or plug-in time. It utilizes the science of phase change to maintain the interior of your oboe case at close to room temperature for an extended period of time. They are convenient, and stylish! For more info, click here.

Introducing the HDR Sharpening Jig Pro

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our newest product: the HDR Sharpening Jig Pro. In the Fall of 2020, we were advised that the jig we had been adapting to our use for 22 years was being discontinued. With the help of Leo McGovern of The Maine Toolroom, we believe we have developed an elegant replacement, superior both in accuracy and durability. Made from anodized and cored aluminum, this light-weight tool holds a beveled knife at a consistent angle to the sharpening stone, eliminating guesswork and allowing anyone to raise a consistent and controlled burr.

A professional oboist's mouthpiece, crafted from a piece of metal, sitting on top of a piece of wood.

Consistent reed-making requires equipment that is consistently high quality.

Having collaborated with Glotin on the production of their staples and mandrels, we also make an extra effort to inspect the staples we receive, rejecting any that don't meet the highest standards. We then adjust our mandrels for a better fit with these staples.

For more details and to buy our mandrels, brass, and silver staples, click here.

New staples available

I just returned from a trip to Glotin, during which I sorted through hundreds of staples. Our brass staples are, on average, smaller than the silver tubes, but we have plenty of each in stock, and every attempt has been made for a good match between mandrel and tube.

– JF

A note on shipping gougers

Going forward, we will be sending customers gougers in plastic boxes with strong latches, which protects gougers whether transporting locally or shipping through the mail. Priced at $13.50, this item will appear on customers' invoices beginning in September.

We also ask that customers sending gougers to us for servicing pack their machines in this plastic box, then pack that inside a free USPS box. Please include a note inside the box explaining the status of the blade, recent repair history, and any specific problems. This will minimize confusion caused by the number of machines we receive.