Reeds 'n Stuff Bassoon Analog Hardness Tester

The Reeds 'n Stuff Bassoon Analog Hardness Tester measures hardness of your dry pre-gouged or gouged bassoon cane. It looks like a dial indicator, but it has an arm that rotates most of the way around the machine and the measuring pin is thicker than that of the average dial indicator. While it measures in mm, the numbers do not correlate with thickness exactly; rather, after recording the hardness on a fair number of reeds, it is intended that you be able to narrow the range of the numbers that give you your preferred results so that you will eventually save time and energy and resources by not making reeds that are unlikely to work out of cane that is outside your preferred range.

Reed this article by engineer/bassoonist James Poe, the reed maker at the Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp, discussing hardness and flexibility.