Author: vboboe
Date: 2009-03-06 18:43
johnt, that's fantastic help on the blend, it certainly helped me look at my blends again with a more critical eye :-)
although, and here are some worms to look at -- for a beginner to moderate beginner, the dark spine right down into the tip is probably too stiff (resistant) and tiring to blow over time, i find about 2.5-3mm evenly thinned tip edge is easier to play for longer periods, and a graded blend area (the half moon) approx 3mm broad (down the midline) is comfortable resistance with adequate flexibility -- trade-off is less robust reed tone, true
claire70 might perhaps need a slightly softer reed than this at her stage of the game (?), if so it would be more important for her reeds that the tip sides vibrate freely for a generous 5mm (not nudging closer to 4mm which is stiffer and 3mm which is strong stuff, although these variable measurements apply more to hardening up U-scrape than American scrape)
this means on a 70mm reed, the tip sides are thinned down to 65mm -- remember though that the cane thickness on the sides is already gouged thinner than the middle, so don't thin sides too much, shouldn't be doing feathered edges there
this also means that johnt's 66mm dot in mid line would represent the *base* of the half moon blend and tapering is done forwards to the tip from there as already described, and the 'horns' of the half moon taper out at 65mm on the sides
claire70 might find it helpful to draw cross-bucks from sides 65 to 72mm corners after clipping off the fold, to visibly define a triangular apex area which is where the half moon blend would grade out into the tip
to make the 'playing edge' of the tip longer (down the midline) just measure the cross-bucks 65mm to 70mm instead, this lowers the peak of the apex (and the resulting blend will be narrower and more resistant when midline dot for base of blend is at 66mm)
to soften the blend's resistance a bit more, if she needs it, she could broaden the graded blend (half moon) band to 3mm+ rather than 3mm- by placing the mid-line dot at 65mm instead
the spine (dark) into the tip definitely gives more body to the reed's tone, when it's playable, but that depends on embouchure grown strong enough not to leak when blowing the air pressure needed to vibrate such a reed --it's all a matter of growth, progress and readiness, isn't it?
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