Xaphoon de Catalunya C Olive Wood

I have been playing the Xaphoon for many years. First the bamboo version, then the ABS plastic version and now this one made from olive wood. It has instantly become my favourit. It feels a touch lighter in the hand and the sound is a little warmer and softer. The sound is elegant and has a lot of heart! The response is clean up and down the scale. I normally us a strengh 3.0 reed but found the olive version sounded better with a softer, 2.5. I still love the plastic version as you can travel with it and it is totally unaffected by climate. This olive wood version naturally needs more caring and looking after (mopping, cleaning, oiling), but you'll definitely develop a stronger bond with this instrument. I absolutely love it!

Thrilled with this Xaphoon. Out of the box the first thing I did was wet the reed for two minutes, line up the reed and no sound came out. Day two I wet the reed again, took some online instruction set the reed slightly lower and put the mouthpiece further in my mouth, angled the xaphoon down and blew like I was inflating a balloon. The resultant blast made me shake for a quarter of an hour! It will take some getting used to but the xaphoon comes with a fingering chart in the box and a free online lesson. Oh and it looks absolutely beautiful and well made. One small thing to note, the reed it comes with is a 2.5, I bought a few! The mouthpiece cushions I also bought would not cling to the wood surface so I cut a piece of elastoplast to stop my top teeth from damaging the wood. It blends in pretty well.