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Re: Measuring Reeds

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2017-07-02 07:09

Bob Bernardo wrote:

> Karl,
>
> Email me at savagesax@aol.com
>
> I can show you a lot of ways not to brag, but teach you how to
> become a reed wizard. Very little by measuring, partly by
> becoming aware of the cane quality, and most of all by playing
> on the reeds. Learning how to adjust reeds properly. It's a
> science. A feel. I do not think it is an art.
>

Thanks, Bob. I know and greatly respect your knowledge and experience with reeds. I'm not thinking of this especially as an aid in reed adjustment. I don't actually have a definite purpose in mind. But I often find myself wondering why I hate playing on V.12s and find 56 Rue lepics more playable, what makes Luries play so much more easily for my students and why even they (my students) sound more thin and edgy on regular Ricos than on anything else they try. I'm just flat-out curious about what makes reeds tick (play). I'm curious about what in a reed's profile makes me like Steuer Exclusives and not like Steuer Classics (as I decided from trying the samples of each you so kindly supplied when I first wanted to try Steuers).

I might argue gently with you about science vs. art. I'm not sure "feel" is a valid part of scientific method or scientific process. I myself don't think reed adjustment is either one entirely - there are elements of both. I agree you don't need expensive tools or measuring apparatus to adjust reeds successfully.

When you design a reed for mass production (as I know you have), how do you arrive at the measurements that the cutting machines need to reproduce? Do you just start tinkering with something that already exists, or are there mathematical models that can provide a starting point depending on what you want the playing qualities of the resulting reed to be? Are today's cutting machines digital or do they follow a physical form the way a Reed Du-all does?

Karl

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Measuring Reeds new

kdk

2017-07-01 19:08