The semi-oval mylar reeds from Bernie and Matt have been my best performers, especially for the plastic slip-on cup type retainer. They work with the circlip spring retainer too if you make sure it's free to rotate around to whatever position it likes. They will eventually get misshapen, sort of dome shaped, after a while, so they don't last forever, but that's why you buy them in quantity. They seem to be the fastest moving of all the different materials.
I have not tried the star shaped mylars.
The original copper beryllium star reeds were shaped for their foot tabs to be trapped under the edge of the circlip, but none of the new star reeds are made that way. If you flatten an old style one's foot tabs it may not work well or at all.
The Teflon ones suck.
In my opinion, the steel ones are slower cycling due to their mass, and will beat any anodizing off of the face of their seat. For non-anodized seats with slip-on retainers they are good for sport use and not high rpms. They may(not 100% sure) be a little thick for circlips resulting in restricted motion. I've seen them become domed too.
The clear stiff plastic backing to medicinal Lidoderm pain patches looks like a good material to cut oval reeds from. The floppy disk reeds I think are too flimsy, but they'll work in a pinch.
Rusty
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Topic: VHS Tape player - Anyone still have one? (Read 1415 times)