Vigder's Bassoon Supplies has served bassoon students, teachers and amateurs of the instrument 
since 1976. Focusing    on making a reasonably priced handmade reed from the raw tube cane to a 
finished, immediately playable bassoon reed has been the goal of Scott Vigders' since the inception 
of the business in August 1976.  

The high quality; attention to detail and demand of any customer regardless of experience or level of      
reed making knowledge are essential requirements to Vigder's Bassoon Supplies.      
So much so; that an in-depth interview with Scott Vigder was published in the International Double 
Reed Societys' quarterly volume The Double Reed in Spring of 2000; the bassoon editor Ron Klimko 
came to Los Angeles and spent a week with Scott learning first-hand about his methods.

    Scott Vigder was born May 22nd ,1957 in Seattle, Washington. His parents moved to 
    Los Angeles on his second birthday. He started on recorder when he was 7 years old and 
    started learning cello when he was nine. He played cello throughout Junior High School and 
    tried out a plastic Linton bassoon in ninth grade, fell in love with it, abandoned 
    the cello and started to teach himself fingerings. He also learned saxophone 
    in Junior High but took the bassoon home every day to learn what he could. 
    He continued playing baritone saxophone in Jazz Band and bassoon in orchestra 
    and concert band when he began high school. John Magruder, his music teacher 
    at University High School told him he should start studying formally. Scott 
    was lucky enough to start his studies with Norman Herzberg, the renowned studio 
    bassoonist and teacher of many leading bassoonists worldwide. He studied bassoon 
    with Mr. Herzberg;taking lessons at his home in Encino all during high school 
    and afterwards; as Scott could not afford tuition at U.S.C.

    Often Scott Vigders' reed-making lessons were better than his playing lessons. 
    So, he started his business as Vigder Reeds in 1976 with five shapes- A,B,C,D, 
    and E, ranging from the narrowest to the widest in tip openings and in blade 
    width. As he continued to learn bassoon he found a machinist in Pittsburgh, 
    Pennsylvania to make copies of a so-called "Mechler" and a so-called 
    "Knochenauer" shape bassoon reeds, originally published in a diagram 
    in 1976 from To The World's Bassoonist newsletter. He added these to his catalog 
    and started making profiled and shaped cane and reed blanks of all the shapes 
    he had.

    Scott continued his reed business while at Santa Monica Junior College and 
    took bassoon lessons with David Breidenthal and Michael O'Donovan at U.C.L.A. 
    completing his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music. In 1980 he commenced his 
    graduate studies in bassoon performance at California Institute of the Arts 
    and graduated in May 1982. He performed in many local Los Angeles groups; 
    and played in the 1979 Round Top Music Festival in Texas; the 1981 & 1982 
    Contemporary Music Festivals at CalArts and participated in the 1982 Holland 
    Festival with the CalArts Twentieth Century Players Chamber orchestra.

    With the addition of contra bassoon reeds, blanks, profiles, gouged bassoon 
    cane, wire and books Scott Vigder has given a wide choice of supplies to every 
    bassoon player.

    MISSION STATEMENT<PHILOSOPHY AND METHODS

    My objective is simple: To give the customer the most amount of my labor for 
    the best price with constant satisfying results purchase after purchase.

    Consistency of detail is accomplished by not changing the dimensions of the 
    reed, nor the gouge thickness of the cane; nor the procedure of 17 separate 
    steps in constructing a bassoon reed.

    My further obligation is to treat every customer equally,regardless of the 
    size of the order or the knowledge or lack thereof of the bassoon player. 
    Everyone is entitled to a well made reed and related products; and it is my 
    responsibility to do the best work I can on a daily basis.

    The method of construction is simple: 17 steps over a period of 21 days for 
    each reed. No step can be overlapped , or the final result is not as satisfactory. 
    I apply simple mass-production techniques to these steps to ensure uniformity 
    of profile, wire placement, filing areas, the same musical tests for response 
    after the reed is finished to determine the actual strength of the reed. Utmost 
    concentration is what I ask of myself to give each customer the best results.