Vic is now my go-to oboe cane

Posted by Bruce S. on Dec 11th 2020

I agree with Kevin's 2017 review-Vic is very dense and very hard (most are 9 to 13 on my R'n'S hardness tester) and makes great reeds with wonderful color, flexibility and power. I began using it earlier this year and the reeds have been long-lasting; they remind me of the way Vandoren cane once was (until about 10-15 years ago). I aim for 10.75 mm diameter and gouge on an Ann Hodge variant RnS gouger slightly thinner-- to .58-.59mm at centerline, and usually shape on an RDG 1. Vics do take awhile to scrape and refine and don't care to be hurried; however, I won't mark them down because of that as, so far, the end product is pretty consistently good and worth the time and effort-a higher percentage of successful reeds than any other of the many oboe tube cane brands I have tried over the past several years.