Left side of the reed was quite sharp and I cut my lip playing it. Many pros sand their cane reeds and treat them; this fine-tuning is commonplace. But this was the first I had to sand a synthetic reed because it came in such a rough shape. Despite that, I think its a decent reed. Its got a slightly brighter sound than my classical synthetic reeds. It also feels thinner, which I prefer. But when the reed costs what it does, I expect it to be in a playable state and not require so much sanding. Having only one of the reeds, I cannot say whether this was a one-time occurrence, or if this quality is to be expected.