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Concave table questions

Author: Ray
Date: 2007-04-19 13:45

Some mouthpieces have flat tables and some have tables with concave curves. If there is a curve, when you lay a straightedge on the table you can see light pass under the center of the straightedge but not where it touches ends of the table.

The straightedge does not touch the whole table, only near the window and near the tenon end of the mouthpiece.

It seems to me that when I replace the straightedge with a reed that the reed will touch the mouthpiece in the same two places. It will be supported at the base of the window and at the bottom of the table but it will not touch the mouthpiece between those two points.

Now, when I clamp the reed with a ligature, what happens? Do I force the reed to conform to the table curve so that the vamp of the reed angles upward, away from the facing curve? (This would have the effect of making the reed play harder.) Or do I only clamp the reed to the table at the window and the base, with the center of the bark end of the reed free and not touching the mouthpiece?

If the reed stays straight and is only supported at the ends of the table, it will vibrate like a diving board - the middle of the bark end of the reed will flex up and down in the opposite direction of the tip. This would be very different from the vibration of the reed when the whole bark end is held to the table, whether curved or straight.

It seems that there are many possible effects depending on the depth and length of concavity, the ligature style, the thickness of the reed blank and the tightness of the ligature.

What is the advantage claimed for the concave table? From a logical point of view a flat table allows only one curvature (straight) for the bark end of the reed and would be a lot more predictable.

Sorry for so many questions in one post, but an understanding of this subject could explain why ligatures offer different kinds of response and why some mouthpieces like thin blank reeds rather than thick blanks and so on.

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Concave table questions

Ray

2007-04-19 13:45