Customer Reviews

It was very nice talking to you today and getting a few of my zillions of cane questions answered. I have tried talking to people in other shops who were annoyed by my questions, perhaps unsure of the answers and did not want to appear ignorant, or just too busy to answer the telephone.

It was refreshing to speak to someone who has the knowledge and is also willing to spend some time with the customer!

I emailed customer service last night and assumed I would not get a response until later today – no I received a response this morning, before 7:30 am! I just placed my order, thanks to John’s quick response, and I wanted to let everyone at Charles Music know how enjoyable it is to work with a company as professional, helpful, knowledgeable, courteous, prompt as Charles Music!

I tried (another company) and came back and ordered some cane from you and was so happy to get nice and consistent cane. Thank you for your attention to detail and workmanship.

I want to thank you for very prompt service. I placed an order yesterday and it arrived TODAY! I’m sure I’m going to enjoy using the ProTec Oboe/Eng. Hn. combo case.

My first time to use it will be when I do a performance with the Three Irish Tenors.

It was really a breath of fresh air to work with you and your staff, and we are still in disbelief that you were able to sell the bassoon so quickly! We feel that your commission was worth every cent. Thank you again for all you have done for us.

Holy cow! I have to tell you that I’ve purchased reeds from 4 companies in the past 3 years trying to find reeds that come ready as I’m busy teaching and don’t have the time to whittle and scrape.

These are the best reeds I’ve used! Beautiful tone and amazing resonance. Thank you so much! I look forward to continuing with you in the years to come for your amazing service!

Greetings!

I just received your check for selling my Polisi bassoon. It was a pleasure to do business with you at every level. Thank you.

Thanks to Jen and Brian! Jen for always taking care of my orders so wonderfully! And to Brian for making his own affordable and just as superb double hollow ground reed knife! Superior even to the Landwells! Thanks again guys, you really are wonderful!

I wanted to express my appreciation for your excellent customer service and professionalism during the sale of my bassoon. While never an easy decision, you provided me a safe, secure, and simple process for locating that new owner who will truly enjoy the instrument.

You advised on how to make a decision on the offering price, advised on me relevant price reductions, and ultimately found a buyer.. I received my check in the mail recently from the sale and I could not be more pleased.

No one could have put it better than you do in your letter which accompanies your latest sale announcement on line. Bravo. You describe my experience exactly, including the psychology behind too-easy early results, and the slowly accruing “real thing” over thousands of productive practice hours.

Your letter plus Chris Weait’s second volume on bassoon practice should be in the hands of every young bassoonist!

Outstanding service and products. Always look forward to contacting you, and will look forward to seeing you in Ithaca (IDRS conference). Best Wishes to you all.

After having suffered with a worn Swiss knife for a while, your knife really makes working on the tips a pleasure.

It was such a nice experience dealing with an informative, experienced and honest professional like you, Brian. I thank you very much for all you have done and wish you many more years of success with your business. I’ll be singing your praises here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (ha!).

I am so pleased to know I can get wonderful reeds with wonderful service and with no worries about whether they will play well or not.

I play in our church orchestra and we will be doing some traveling and other performances. I just can’t tell you enough at how pleased I am with your reeds compared to what I was playing with in the past. Thank you again.

I ordered some reeds from you a couple of years back, and they were a great hit. I’m visiting my mother in Florida, and so am getting some more sent to her address to save on postage.

My oboe playing friend here in Australia asked me to get some more as he’s been very pleased with the previous order. Thanks for making such good reeds!

It’s important to me to have a source I can trust to send me exactly what is advertised.  I’m an oboe/english horn player who doubles on bassoon.

The bassoon blanks you sell work very well for me. I don’t know how to tie them, but I can finish them.

All three of my children are strong music students, Needless to say I have purchased boatloads of music and various music supplies from many different companies. I really appreciate how easy your web site is to use and the quality of your products.

My daughter just started private lessons and her teacher was most impressed with what nice tone she was able to produce (your reeds). Thanks for helping her to be successful!

I’ve enjoyed surfing/ordering from your website — for my taste it is most well-designed of all double-reed websites.

Tenon cork of my instrument was almost broken. I didn’t have much time so I visited Charles Music. Brian attended me and he also replaced the tenon cork in a very short span of time. I appreciate their efforts and their quality of work is extremely good.

I wanted to inform you that I very much enjoy ordering from your site and I find the service excellent. I have always received my items in perfect condition within a good and reasonable amount of time and the site in general is set up very nicely and is easy to order from.

Also, the few times I have needed to call with questions or for the purpose of adding something to my order the people I have spoken with were extremely nice and very helpful. Keep up the great work =)

Thank you so much for your fine servicing of my Fox oboe. It plays much better now. The left-F key has much more comfortable action.

And thank you for the very quick turnaround.

I want to thank you for your continued excellent service in getting my order shipped promptly. It’s always a pleasure doing business with you.

Hi! Just received my order and was amazed and delighted as to how quickly it arrived – thank you so much for making this such a pleasant experience. I’ll definitely be using your services again!!!!!

Just wanted to say thanks for such great service. Order was received this week and I was very pleased. The reed case is for my daughter’s 16th birthday. She will love it, I know!

Thanks again and hope to order from you again.

I wanted to send you some pictures of the double reed students that we had at High Plains Band and Orchestra Camp this year. The tattoos and the stickers were a HUGE hit – the students wore the tattoos proudly for our double reed choir performance : )

Thank you so much for supporting our students and the camp! It really meant a lot to all of us.

Thank you for the fantastic job you did on my Fox Bassoon as well as my Amati Contrabassoon. Both had played almost to death, they are now better than new. No kidding!

Thank you so very much for the hand-picked Telos reeds. I couldn’t believe it when I opened the box. I had just ordered 4 from your website and when I went to the mailbox that day, they were already there! LOL

It is so important to be able to depend on you who understands the situation that oboe reeds can sometimes put us in.  This could not happen without your wonderful customer service. Thank you once again.

Received instruments this afternoon. Absolutely wonderful ! Especially the English Horn. And the oboe plays like it did when it was new. Thank you so much for your help. Once again, thank you, thank you.

Since you returned my Selmer Signet oboe to me, I have been playing it regularly and have performed high-range, mid-range, and low-range solo and woodwind trio (oboe, clarinet, flute) pieces in our church (with as many as 750 attendees at some Masses).

After I became accustomed to playing the instrument again, I have come to love playing it. Your complete overhaul was exactly what I needed.

When I started thinking about getting back into the bassoon, Charles Double Reed was the first place I thought of.

I’ve bought all my reed making equipment from you in the past, as well as other items, and I will be buying from you in the future.

I just wanted to write to tell you how pleased I always have been with your quick service! Most recently, I ordered some reeds on Friday, and got them yesterday – on Monday! And I am clear across the country in Seattle!

While I have always been pleased with your help and service, I don’t always let you know, so I thought it was time! Thank you so much!

Thank you for your prompt response (by Jennifer in your service dept.) to my query about shipping costs. They are also very reasonable. I have now ordered and hope to get the shipment soon!

I have received the Fibrereed. It looked exactly like what we usually call “plastic” reed so for 0.00001 second, I was disappointed. But you are the man of good business practice with great educational background.

So without delay, I tried it IMMEDIATELY. (literally, I almost burned my dinner!) I’m happy to say that I can recommend this to my students!

I think that too often people only tell one when something goes wrong, so I like to tell people when things go right! Many thanks! My (item) arrived safely this morning.

I will be using it tonight for a performance at Longborough Opera House and will think kindly of you as I eat my picnic in the grounds during the interval!

I cannot thank you enough for your expedited shipping. I received the order a day ahead of what I expected, thus enabling me to keep the “secret” from my 13 year old son.

I’d not expected to find a site such as yours, catering only to the double reed musician: a Christmas gift in itself!! Again, thank you for your individual attention and excellent service.

I just wanted to let you know that since starting to use your products, my reed making has become much more consistent.

I am happier with my reeds more of the time, and have been able to play on my own reeds with no help from my teacher (Margaret Herlehy) more often. Thank you for everything.

I’m a fairly new oboe player and I just wanted to let you know that that I absolutely love your reeds. I started searching for a legitimate site to order quality reeds from when I came across this one and decided to try a few. That was seven months ago and now I can’t imagine ordering from anywhere else.

I also got a freshman oboe player to switch to your reeds after convincing him that how much a reed affects your sound by making him play on one of mine. I wanted to let you know how much of a difference your reeds have made to me and that I would recommend them to anyone and will continue ordering them.

Easy to use website. Product descriptions were helpful.

I also received a Charles black leather 10 reed case; it is hands-down the best reed case ever (and I have lots of various cases) !

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your reeds. I just ordered two more. I play in our church orchestra. We play hymn arrangements as well as some praise and worship. Thank you for doing such a wonderful job on the reeds.

Just wanted to thank you on behalf of the family of a student of mine for the outstanding oboe you sent them.

It was a Fox 450 and you set it up wonderfully. The sound was clear, warm and rich, with good response. It’s easy to see why these instruments are in such high demand!

When I ordered I included the fact that this was a present for my sister’s birthday, and asked that each thing be wrapped in packing paper separately. You listened and then added more. You put in a couple extra things, I hadn’t purchased, and then wrapped everything in colored tissue paper. THANK YOU!! That was soooo above and beyond!

I have been very pleased when ordering reeds and supplies from Charles. I don’t have time to mull over numerous websites to compare items and prices. Your notifications direct me to areas of your inventory I might not have looked at before.

For example, I didn’t know about this oboe method series using CDs. I am going to try them out. I am especially happy with the quality of packaging to protect the reeds and the speedy delivery.

I would like to thank you very much for your outstanding customer service. Every time I place an order it is shipped that day or the next day and I receive it in the mail within a couple of days.

I really appreciate your promptness and will definitely continue to order cane and other bassoon supplies through you, and I will also continue to recommend your company to other musicians. Thank you so much!

I wanted to thank you so much for all of your efforts to sell this (Loree oboe). As you may recall, we had very bad luck with another dealer selling the oboe. I truly appreciate the compassion you showed as well as your wonderful description and active selling.

I also wanted to express my daughter’s delight in the used Marigaux oboe she purchased from you. She has received complements from her professor on how much better she sounds. Thanks so much for everything! We will be using you for all of our instrument needs in the future!

Great experience purchasing a used oboe. Brian was very knowledgeable and helpful with my son’s experience. Enjoyed every minute in the shop. Will be our go to business in the future for all of our double Reed needs.

I just have to write you a note and let you know your website is the coolest and as a bassoon teacher, I really enjoyed navigating it and looking at all the products!!! Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the thoughtful response. Your comment on Fox’s helpfulness is correct, in my experience. I have contacted them twice since purchasing the Model II from you and they were, in fact, very helpful.

It’s gratifying as an amateur enthusiast bassoon player to have resources like you and Fox available for consultation. I appreciate your responsiveness.

Great website, detailed product description, plus a trusted reputation. THANKS!

There is one very relieved and happy oboist in Rindge today. Marc loved his oboe, said it had never played that well. The first thing he said was wow-it looks so clean. Then when his low notes played, he was grateful, and even felt vindicated.

Great work… your “child sent out into the world” did you proud. Thanks! Jim

Back in late November, my daughter advised me that she needed oboe reeds. After finding your website, I called to place an order, explaining that my daughter did not have anybody local to help her with reeds. That order shipped quickly. When the student reeds turned out to be not quite right for my daughter, you provided over the phone advice concerning ways she might fine-tune the reeds. When those adjustments did not tweak the reeds to suit her needs, you shipped upgraded replacements. They were perfect. Thanks to your outstanding service, my daughter had terrific oboe reeds in time for her school concert. Thank you again for your quick and expert service. I’m sure we’ll be ordering from you again.

After years of playing the clarinet. I wanted to try the oboe. I had read that using ready made reeds was a set up for trouble. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy your beginner reeds were to use.

They were well made and had a wonderful sound. I also appreciated the helpful customer service representative who helped me with my purchase.

Having fought my way through a number of websites specializing in double reeds, yours was a pleasure to use.

I was in need of a micrometer for bagpipe chanter reeds. When I found one on your website, I wasn’t sure if it would work. As a result, I had lots of questions.

My questions, via several emails, were answered promptly and courteously. I appreciated the outstanding service I received.

Thanks again for your kindness, your guidance and of course your great service!! I appreciate all your help. I look forward to hearing from you again.