Danzi Professional Contrabassoon Reeds

Ovidio Danzi

Prior to his death in 2013, Mr. Ovidio Danzi was a fully tenured professor at the Academy of Music in Bergamo, Italy. During some of that time, he had also been principal solo bassoonist with the RAI Orchestra of Turin. For sixteen years prior to that, he was principal with "La Scala" Theater of Milan. Upon retiring from performing, Mr. Danzi continued to teach and research how to achieve the most advanced solutions in double reeds, both cane and construction, with careful attention to quality, consistency, and performance.

To this end, Mr. Danzi had located the best cultivation in the classic "Var" region in southern France and after careful study, had chosen the best crops from the most suitable land. He developed a special method of preparation of seasoned and semi-manufactured cane in order to reach a very high level of quality for each piece of cane. Mr. Danzi's research led to the development of two distinct cane types, both extremely efficient but each having different qualities to meet the individual preferences of the musician. He called them medium and medium hard.

Mr. Danzi personally tested and experimented with these two types of cane, as well as his colleagues and students. Danzi cane has met with favorable acclaim by many of today's most important artists ... Mr. Klaus Thunemann, Mr. Sergio Azzolini, Kim Walker and Christopher Millard, to name but a few. Danzi cane was introduced to the USA in 1994 at the Bloomington IDRS Conference. It met with instant success with many manufacturers, retailers and artists. At that conference, Stefano Canuti, a student of Mr. Danzi, gave a breathtaking performance using Mr. Danzi's handmade reed.

Paola Frasson

In 1996, Paola Frasson, Ovidio Danzi's wife, started working with M° Ovidio Danzi in the laboratory of Danzi SAS in Milan, which she is still carrying on, building reeds for wind instruments.

About the Reeds

The Danzi reeds are built a bit differently from many American-style reeds. The tube is 1" long, with the first wire placed at that 1" point. There is no collar. The ledge is at the wire placement, and the blade begins at that point. The distance from the top side of wire 2 to the bottom side of wire 1 is 5mm. Those measurements hold for both styles of reed. 

The red thread is used on their Professional reeds. The gouge is 1mm at the bottom of the tube. The ledge to tip measurement is 30mm from the middle of wire 1. The length across the tip is 13mm. The profile leaves more wood closer to the bark for a hard reed, even though it is labeled as "medium hard" on their website. It is closer to a "tip taper" design, meaning the blade is relatively straighter with a steeper taper toward the tip. It gets suddenly steeper about 1/3 of the overall blade's length back from the tip.

The blue thread is used on their Student reeds. The gouge is 1.2mm at the bottom of the tube. The ledge to tip measure at 28.5mm from the middle of wire 1. The distance across the tip is almost 14mm. The profile is more gradual, a "straight taper" design, meaning a more gradual taper from the ledge to the tip. Looking at the rails, a side view of the reed, the taper is much closer to a straight line than on the tip taper style. This is to highlight the basic differences.

In comparison, the Professional reed is longer and narrower and cut thinner, a bit closer to the bark. The Student reed is a little shorter and wider and cut thicker, a little further from the bark. The shapes are thus a little different, but they are designed to have many similar playing characteristics, with strength being the most obvious difference. All Danzi reeds will require a firm embouchure and a very fast air stream.  These reeds are recommended for college level and up, though a high school player with a firm embouchure might like the Student reeds.

Return Policy

Please note that we do not accept returns on reeds or cane unless damaged on arrival.