The Herzberg Shape

The Herzberg Shape is a favorite amongst bassoon reed makers, especially in California. Norman Herzberg taught at the University of Southern California for 40 years and was considered a reed guru. His style of reeds live on through his students and continue to be an influence on new players today. Herzberg developed his own shape and later his own profiler machine. The profiler and shaper are no longer being made, however the shaper will sometimes become available when a player retires etc.

The appeal of this shape is that it creates a reed which is vibrant, responsive and colorful. The shape is narrow with the tip being only 15mm wide. The unique feature of this shape is the end of the tube flares out, with the correct bevel and forming that flare with control the tip opening. And so the Herzberg shape creates a reed which can be thin but not collapse.

The Herzberg shape is the shape used on all of the pro reeds at King Bassoon Reeds. Soon it will be sold as GSP for people wanting to make their own blanks.