Bill started making reeds in large quantities by helping Frank Sturchio in San Antonio, Texas, in the early fifties. In the spring of 1959, Bill was making oboe reeds for the Gower Reed Company in Boulder, Colorado. Later that year he started Roscoe Reed Manufacturing Co. in Colorado Springs. Since then, he has owned or managed several large reed companies. Bill started making reeds under the Bill Roscoe trademark in 1985.

When Bill began making reeds for others, he did most of the work by hand. As tennis players know well, wrists and elbows do not appreciate a lot of twisting. In time he was getting a cortisone shot in his right elbow monthly to keep down the pain. Bill then decided to find better ways to make oboe reeds. The design of his reeds is his own as are many of the tools used in production. Bill created his own tools to help him work better and faster. Yet, the final, and most important work of finishing, testing and grading are done slowly, by hand, one reed at a time.