In general, what commercial brands do you think are the best? I usually like the jones artist reeds, but a lot of the time they are very flat.

depends on where you live. In australia the best reeds you can get are K Ge. reeds... they are about $28 each but they are really good quality hand made ones.

Also, its a very good idea to learn to kake your own. In the long run its cheaper and you can adhust them to how you like them (hard,medium,soft).

Most of the big companes make dreadful reeds. You need to find a small dealer who can make ones specifically to your style or learn how to make your own.

Lesher, Lesher, Lesher, Lesher
They are sometimes hard to get because so many people want them. If you can buy them, do it now because you may have to wait!!!

Guess what I heard - Jones makes Rico reeds - YUCK!

Lesher oboe reeds - very consistent - sound great - and pretty colored thread too!!

I recently switched over to MKL reeds (www.mklreeds.com). They`re based out of Chicago, a little bit more expensive, but you can play on them right when you get them. You get a great tone out of them too!

I compromise on oboe reeds. Instead of making reeds from scratch or buying reeds from a maker, I buy profiled reeds from Jones. I visited the factory last year. They are very nice people and are good to deal with. I buy profiled cane and assemble the reeds myself. You of course need staples, thread, mandrel etc. but the profiled cane is much cheaper than buying handmade reeds. I basically do what they do at the factory. I tie the reed on and clip a little until it works...ie pitch and response. I think this a good way to go as you are not dependent on a reed maker. It is also could be an intermediate step towards making your own reeds as you have to learn how to tie reeds on , test them and adjust. If anyone is interested in going this route I will assist in any way I can.

My favorite reeds are custom-made by Stellar. A little expensive, but well worth it.
http://www.oboe.net/

I love Nielsen woodwind`s ( http://nielsen-woodwinds.com ) purple thread reeds. Hand cut and far better than plain store bought reeds unless you plan on some self-adjusting. Priced at around $9 so they`re pretty reasonable.

I`ve also tried the Nielsen green thread reed, but I found it to be far too soft for MH and the quality of the cut and tie not as good as the person who makes their purple thread reed.

I`ve had luck with physically store bought Jones and LaVoz reeds, you need to adjust them yourself somewhat to get what you want out of them.

I`ve also tried bulk buying buying from WWandBW and I wasn`t terribly pleased with any of the reeds I chose, but it could be those brands (Woodwind Artist & Chartier Long Scrape). They do at least replace defective reeds quite quickly and easily with just a phone call and no need to send them back the reed.