A Brief History of K.Ge

Kexun Ge, the founder and Managing Director of K.GE REEDS, started his reed making business to support himself as an oboe student in London and later in Brisbane, Australia. Kexun’s business increased significantly when he found a reliable source of quality cane in China and opened a workshop in Shanghai to help him make enough oboe reeds to keep up with the demand.

The cane used for Ke-xun's reeds comes from Anhui Province in China, which has been a famous cane-producing region since about 1960, supplying cane for local oboists, clarinettists and bassoonists. Ke-xun discovered that the climate of Anhui is very similar to that of the cane-producing Var region in France, and also discovered that the cane from Anhui had much greater resilience and a higher fibre density than other canes, including the French cane.

This cane undergoes a rigorous process of selection by trained staff, and as a result K.Ge assures a very high usage rate. As an oboe reed maker, as well as a bassoon reed maker, Ke-xun has experimented with many different varieties of cane, and has come to the conclusion that the cane from Anhui is the best he has ever used. All K.Ge reeds have been made with this cane for a long time now, and subsequently, the K.Ge brand has risen to be arguably the most respected and well-known brand in reed making in the world.