Author: EaubeauHorn
Date: 2008-04-27 17:24
I've learned a lot from this thread.
Although I am pretty much a Kompleat Neophyte as far as reed-making, I do have a small input.
I live in a very dry climate, with humidty usually below 10%, often as low as 4%, summer and winter. I learned everything I know (which isn't all that much yet) about reed making from my teacher, who of course lives here too.
I have had only one occasion of the reed splitting when I tied it on, and that batch of cane was clearly harder than previous batches. My instructions for tying on are to heat water in the microwave til almost boiling, and then soak the cane until it sinks. I taper the ends of the reed-to-be on an easel, the last 5 mm or so, with a knife. For tying on, I use 73 mm; I was told, to avoid splitting, to put one loop of thread on about a cm below the end of the staple, at full tension, and to slowly roll the reed towards me, which moves this loop up to the end of the staple. When that single loop is at the end of the staple (which I have marked with a pencil on the reed so I can see it, and both sides of the reed are centered so there will be no gap, I then wind down on the reed and tie off. I don't know if this is "old technique" or not...but it works. The only split I had was with this very hard cane, and I decided that even though it sank it simply was not wet enough. For other reasons I went back to the Rigotti cane I was using before, and although it is wider than I'd like I find it easier to work with at my current level of expertise.
I realize my comments are suited to neophytes like me, but I've found that sometimes a neophyte will include info in a post that an expert will leave out since it is intuitive for them.
With kindest regards,
EBH
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