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Re: reeds with weird middle register

Author: johnt
Date: 2009-03-06 13:31

Clare,

There is a general tendency in beginning reedmakers to take off too much of the tip & too much in the back. I know this from experience as I was one once. The key to getting a good crow is the effort put into building the half moon or volcano if you will, which is often called the blend (John Mack called it the "holler"), or the area between the back of the tip & the front of the heart or plateau. Measure up from the bottom of the staple 66. Put a pencil dot at this point on each side of the reed. Connect the dots. Invest in the Incra bend rule graduated in mm. via the Woodpeck website. You'll never go back to anything else. It also allows you to check the top of the thread wind to make sure it doesn't exceed 47 mm. But I digress. After scraping off a "U" with the base of the U defined by the 66 line, place the knife blade at the dot & with successive short strokes, move the knife towards the tip, ensuring that each stroke is made a little closer to the centerline of the reed (spine) The wrist should be moving up a tad with each stroke of the knife so that when you get to the tip the knife is perpendicular to the spine. Repeat this process a dozen or so times, being careful not to put notches in your reed tip side edge. Apply this method to the other three quadrants of the tip. This will ensure that you leave enough wood in this critical area of the reed. Also be careful not to scrape into the opposite side of the reed. Stay within the quadrant & don't cross the spine. When you are finished with this part of the reed, you should see the dark going up from the apex of the half moon/volcano to the tip of the reed (backlighted). You want that dark. There, I think I've let another cat out of the bag or opened another can of worms. This is some of the stuff the reed books don't tell you.

Best,

john

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