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Re: Starting year 3, now gouging and shaping....

Author: oboedrew
Date: 2009-08-03 17:14

cjwright wrote:

> Regarding the Innoledy, I've seen people
> say that they had a hard time getting it
> to vibrate enough, and I've heard of people
> saying that they consistently couldn't get
> enough vibrations in it.

There's someone saying that about every gouger. It's mostly nonsense. A gouger doesn't make cane harder or denser. It doesn't make it any less likely to vibrate. The scrape frees the reed to vibrate. Of course, if a reedmaker switches from one machine to another but lacks the patience or the knife technique to adapt to an unfamiliar gouge, that reedmaker might give up too easily on the new machine and assume it's to blame for the reeds not vibrating. Usually the new machine just requires a different sort of scrape.

cjwright wrote:

> Also be aware of the "Mack style of shaping".
> He always shaped his cane with the fold actually
> folded OVER the ears, rather than in between
> the ears. Then he'd also tie the reed as short
> as possible (71mm to 70mm) and chop it open
> barely and scrape it to finish. This gave him a
> wider throat and fuller bottom to the sound.

Cooper, we finally agree on something! Good to know there's common ground.

cjwright wrote:

> Oboedrew and I disagree on the importance
> of the gouge, but my opinion is that the
> gouge is the single most important aspect
> of reedmaking. I've heard Mr. Weber, Mack,
> Joe Robinson, and many others say that a
> good gouge can cover bad quality cane, faulty
> scraping, and plenty of other faults in reedmaking.

Some oboists believe the gouge is the key to good reeds. Naturally, these oboists believe they've discovered the "right" gouge. But do any of them agree on which gouge is the secret weapon? Nope. There are great reedmakers making great reeds on every gouge, and there are bad reedmakers making bad reeds on every gouge. The best reedmakers can make good reeds on ANY gouge, because they have adaptable knife technique.

At this point, I should clarify that I do not believe the best players are necessarily the best reedmakers, and vice versa. Sometimes fine players are dependent on a certain gouge or shape because they are mediocre reedmakers. They lack the knife technique to adapt to different setups. This results in much confusion, because we oboists are quick to believe even the most absurd ideas when they are voiced by famous players. We forget sometimes that playing and reedmaking, though related, are still separate skills.

You can't make good reeds with a bad scrape, no matter what the gouge. And despite the claims of a few famous players, there's no "right" gouge, no secret weapon. If there were, every oboist would be using it, and reedmaking would be easy.

Cheers,
Drew

www.oboedrew.com

Post Edited (2009-08-03 17:18)

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