Klarinet Archive - Posting 000002.txt from 2009/07

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] sabbatical leave - reed making
Date: Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:55:40 -0400

Hello everyone - back on briefly......I check in once in awhile to see
what kinds of things are being discussed on Klarinet. I also receive
forwards from friends. Nice to see a few familiar and pleasant names on
the list.

My reason for subscribing briefly - I wanted to put an unsolicited plug
in for a cool little machine that has been on the market for awhile that
was part of my recent sabbatical leave project. I'll describe.....

Back in 1980, I began making my own reeds from reed blanks. I learned
how to do this from my then teacher, John Mohler, at University of
Michigan. John had made one reed for me to show me how - and it was one
of the best reeds I ever played on (up to that point) and lasted about a
month with hard use. I made reeds for about a year the same way Bob
Spring does now - completely by hand - from the first cut, to files, and
eventually to sandpaper (top of reed). Clip, adjust and play. I was
never as good at it as Bob became, and he went on to make reeds that way
and still does. I, on the other hand, switched back to commercial
reeds. I moved back to store bought reeds because in my first lesson
with David Shifrin, he complimented me on making homemade reeds and then
proceeded to adjust 10 rejected Olieveri reeds from his reject box
(probably 10,000 reeds in the box) that played much better than my reeds
did. He told me he would rather I put the time into practicing rather
than reed making.....so I did. The reed making skills came in very
handy for adjusting commercial reeds by the way.

In 1995 I saw Robert DiLutis at the ClarinetFest held at Arizona State
University, and I watched as he produced a reed very quickly with his
reed making "machine." What impressed me was how well the reed played
right off the machine. I purchased the machine and it's accessories a
year later - and I made 10 or so reeds with good results.
Then..........it stopped working for me. I fiddled with the adjustments
(probably a mistake), and eventually gave up. Back to store bought reeds.

Flash forward to this past year.....

I've had real trouble with commercial reeds of late. I can't say that
it is the fault of the reed manufacturers - but I just was not getting
many reeds from a box to play. They were inconsistent, had buzzy
sounding tips, and didn't last long. I gradually began to become
dismayed while practicing on such crummy pieces of cane! At the same
time, I was also looking for one of two projects for my spring
sabbatical (2009) and immediately though that I could get the DiLutis
machine up and running again. So........I paid Robert a visit in
Rochester New York (I now know how long it takes to drive there from
Bloomington, IL in one day). Suring our four hour session together, he
showed me how to take apart the little machine, tweak it, adjust all
aspects of blade height, and worked on finding the right profile reed to
use/copy.

I am reporting back to the list now that the homemade reeds are far
better than anything I can purchase. Of course, I'm using 12 year old
tube cane that was purchased in 1998 that is as dense as it can be - and
well cured. Still, when making blanks from tubes rather than purchasing
pre-made blanks, I can begin with them thick enough to do the three to
five day curing process that insures a long life reed with plenty of
snap. Practicing and playing is more fun now that there are more reeds.

So........even though Robert did not ask me to do this, I'm mentioning
my experience to all of you so that if you are looking to make reeds,
this little machine takes most of the problems of making reeds by hand
out of the equation. It will copy a reed (via a slicing/planing
approach rather than a sanding approach like the Reed-Dual) and leave it
close enough to finish off by hand. It's worth checking out.

I'm not going to get into my other project.........learning to use
Sibelius software. Great program, but I'm not too quick with this kind
of software (yet!).

That's about it. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer (or winter
depending on what part of the planet you are on) and that those of you
in the US have a great 4th of July weekend.

Best wishes,
Roger Garrett

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