Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2007-09-15 19:01
OK -- my turn to ventilate about a nagging problem I am having.
I don't know how to describe this, except to say that shortly after I begin to play, the oboe seems to start regurgitating water back into the reed well. Or maybe it's not regurgitating -- maybe the water is just collecting at the bottom of the reed well, and then, of course, dripping down into the top octave vent.
When I remove the reed, the bottom of the staple is visibly wet, up several centimeters into the shaft of the tube. This seems to be more of a problem with the synthetic cork staples than with true cork. Has anyone else had a problem with these (the synthetic cork staples)?
In search of a fix, I have pulled the vents and cleaned everything out, to no particular avail. Swabbing helps temporarily, but then it's back to the waterworks. What helps most is to wrap the bottom of the staple with a strip of absorbent paper (I use curling papers -- like what ladies use for a home permanent -- for that). This makes the tube fit tighter into the reed well, and it sops up the wet before it can create havoc with the octave vent.
Maybe these staples just don't fit my reed well -- but they used to work fine. Can there be damage to the reed well, or can it become distorted somehow so that a standard staple doesn't fit tight?
I'd love to hear other theories about what's going on here.
Susan
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