 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: crvsp
Date: 2020-10-11 01:08
Any good guides or tips on making reeds from scratch (without all the expensive tools and such)? These days it seems like making reeds require you to have special tools that cost a fortune, and I'm curious about making my own reeds especially as someone that spends a good amount every months on boxes of Vandorens.
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Author: Ken Lagace
Date: 2020-10-11 01:55
I have made my reeds since 1965 with tube cane, a reed holder, a beveled knife, a reed clipper, a flat glass work area, some different grit sandpapers and a few other minor aids. Giving reed classes, I always ended them by making a reed in two and a half minutes from a reed blank.
However, it takes a lot of skill and experience to do that.
The expensive tools will get you through 90% of the way faster, but the last 10% is where all the craft skills are.
Now, I buy reeds with good cane and finish them as if they are 90% ready to play.
BUT, my suggestion is that Vandoren reeds are the culprit here. I cannot make good reeds from Vandorens. Try Peter Leuthner, Pilgerstorfer or Behn reeds. They have the best cane, and if you get a few boxes of each, one of them will fit your mouthpiece the best. And by studying them for differences, you can tweak all the others to make them play well on your mouthpiece.
If you want more information on making or tweaking reeds my way, get in touch by email.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2020-10-11 02:33
I have seen a discipline used in Germany by the likes of professor Riekof where most of the work after the basic blank is done with files.
Still as stated above, it takes a LONG time and many failures to learn either method.
................Paul Aviles
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Author: EbClarinet
Date: 2020-10-11 18:28
Oboists make their own reeds bcoz their reeds r too expensive, out f the box. You may try asking some of them just how to make your own reeds.
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/mbtldsongministry/
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Author: Ken Lagace
Date: 2020-10-11 18:43
Oboe reeds are a very different animal.
They have four sides to shape and no shape to aim for to make them work, except the other half that has the same problem.
A clarinet reed has one flat surface and one surface to shape. And it has a mouthpiece facing to shape to.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2020-10-11 19:52
EbClarinet wrote:
> Oboists make their own reeds bcoz their reeds r too expensive,
> out f the box.
I think the reasons many (certainly not all) oboists make their own reeds are more complicated. My impression from oboists and from my own experience as a school band teacher is that the truly machine mass-produced oboe and bassoon reeds are simply awful, regardless of the price. The double reed players I know who buy their reeds get them from other players who make a lucrative sideline out of making and selling reeds. I know two such players, one an oboist and the other a bassoonist, in my area who supply reeds to a great many other local players. I think the two I know use all the time saving modern tools they can - they don't just whittle with a knife and thin with files. But, as Ken says, double reeds are much more complex than single reeds.
To the OP, I'm sure there are YouTube videos online that show exactly what you're looking for - there are even videos on how to sharpen your reed knife. But you might take Ken's advice about trying different reeds. On my equipment Pilgerstorfer (Dolce) and Behn Aria seem to be more playable than any of the current Vandorens - maybe better cane and definitely different profiles.
Karl
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Author: AB
Date: 2020-10-14 05:51
Wasn't it the old Stubbins book that went through how to make a reed from scratch? If it was the Stubbins - I don't think it used any of the expensive/custom equipment. Maybe a reed clipper - but you can do that with sandpaper if you need to.
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2020-10-23 17:08
I've wondered if people who make reeds from scratch achieve better success than buying them because the skills they've acquired in SHAPING a blank transfer over to the art of, once produced, ADJUSTING reeds for player taste/setup and variances in cane strength between reeds, or even with a single reed.
Of course the ability to source quality cane is another factor.
While we each have priorities in what aspects of clarinet play occupy our time, assuming the cane of some better recognized brands is acceptable, it would seem to me that time is best spent on paying manufacturers to shape blanks, as they can I suspect do it (at least today, if not 60+ years ago) with better precision than home tools and abilities, and that we rather invest time in learning and applying adjustment techniques for player/setup and intra-reed variances.
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Author: BobW
Date: 2020-10-24 15:16
I am an amateur clarinetist
I have been making my own reeds for about 12 years
My initial investment in supplies was about $1,000.00
I purchased a Reedual and Dilutis profiler and planer
Intelligent choices have to be made when purchasing tools
one website advocates using a power miter saw for $500.00 to cut the blanks
the same job can be done with a plastic miter box and saw from Home Depot for $10.00
I purchased cane tube 12 years ago and have enough for a lifetime
maybe once a year I make my blanks takes about an hour or two
maybe once a month I make a couple of finished reeds from my blanks
takes about a half hour
I then have a great reed
when I look at the whole process it probably takes less time then
if I was to open a box of reeds sort through them
and find useable reeds
I read with interest all the comments on this board on how difficult it is to find good reeds
With a minimal investment in money and time I have an unlimited supply of great reeds
Now is a great time to learn to make reeds, since not many people are performing due to the pandemic and you can not practice 24/7
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2020-10-27 22:18
Hey Bob W, the new reed-dual design is pretty expensive now. About $1000 plus. I know the man who took this business over, he's pretty talented. It's now a better machine, more accurate. I too use the home depot box! It takes me about 15 minutes to make a reed. I also like soaking the cane around 150 degrees then letting the tubes dry out for a few weeks. Soaking the reeds I feel can help a lot when breaking in your reeds. The cane is more stable. As we all know sometimes reeds play well at first, then then change a lot, causing the player to be a bit frustrated taking up valuable practice time adjusting the reeds.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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