Woodwind Reed Holder (parametric), a 3D-printed reed guard
Image: Rainer Backes via Printables, CC BY-NC-SA
Woodwinds · Reed guard

Woodwind Reed Holder (parametric)

A parametric reed guard for clarinet and the saxophone family

Designed by Rainer Backes, published on Printables

CC BY-NC-SA No commercial use Build info 2/5

Licence verified on Printables, 20 October 2026.

Supports
Clarinet and saxophones, soprano to bass
Layouts
Double-sided with 2 or 3 slots; single-sided
Bend
Optional tip lift (about 1.8 mm) to straighten warped reeds
Difficulty
Very easy
On Printables
48 likes · 740 downloads · 1 makes · 8 comments (as of 20 Oct 2026)

About the Reed guard

A reed guard protects cane reeds from damage and warping between practice sessions. This one is parametric. Choose the instrument and layout, and it builds slots that match the reed's length, width and thickness profile. Pre-rendered files cover common setups: double-sided with two or three slots, and a single-sided one.

A clever 'bend' option raises the slot slightly at the tip, to coax a warped reed flat again. An early bug made the bend work backwards; it's been fixed. Baritone and bass sax thickness was corrected after measuring a real reed. The designer invites measurements for less common reed instruments to add them.

What you'll need

Printed parts

  • Reed holder for your instrument

Bought parts

  • Nothing

Tools

  • Optional: the customiser or OpenSCAD for your own sizes

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