 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: oboeobo
Date: 2010-07-04 04:28
Hello bboard.
I was just curious if anyone had any advice on getting rid of the extra stuff or fuzz that gets in the reed (tonally). I know that the sides are sealing very well, because it takes a bit to get the plaque between the blades. Is there anything else that could be the cause of this?
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Author: jhoyla
Date: 2010-07-04 11:23
That extra "buzz" is usually a sign that a section of the blade tip is vibrating independently. There can be many causes of this, but I will begin by describing features that EVERY good reed tip, whatever scraping style, MUST have.
(note that I am talking only about the tip - this is almost always the source of buzz)
1. Gradation. The tip MUST get evenly thinner from the back to the front edge, and from the middle to the sides.
2. Balance. All four quarters of the tip must be of similar thickness and gradation.
Almost every other piece of advice you will hear regarding tip adjustment can be seen as "corollary advice" to these two basic principles, but here are a few specific defects to look for:
1. humps, or troughs in the reed tip - smooth them out
2. thick corners - the extreme corners of the tip must be the thinnest part of the reed, the sides and edges must be thinner than the center of the tip
3. too much taken out of the spine through the tip - not much to be done here, unless you can thin the rest of the tip to make it even thinner than the central spine
4. uneven quadrants - try and make all four quadrants look exactly the same.
In really disfunctional reeds the buzziness can start in other parts - but my money is on the tip. Especially since you say it is hard to put your plaque into your reed! This immediately suggests to me that your corners are too thick.
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Author: oboeobo
Date: 2010-07-05 14:47
So in your experience, is the spine visible in the tip of the reed, or is it an unseen result of your scraping?
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Author: johnt
Date: 2010-07-05 16:35
Yes, spine should be visible in the tip. Just a fine line, but visible on both sides under backlighting.
Best,
john
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Author: jhoyla
Date: 2010-07-05 17:06
The spine doesn't need to be visible for the reed to work well - but it does need to be there. It often looks like a wide, tapering darker area (tapering to the edge of the tip, of course).
I have also made reeds where the spine looked like a dark line almost to the extreme tip and the reeds worked just fine. YMMV.
I'm probably not describing it very well, but this structure - the gradation towards the corners and the balance of all four quadrants - this is what encourages the correct vibrations in the reed.
A lack of balance or incorrect gradation (humps, troughs, thick corners etc.) will allow cross-vibrations to form in the reed-blades, which make the fizzing, buzzing sounds we all hate.
It is tempting, once the tip is more or less done and the reed is still "hard", to continue scraping the tip. This is when you ruin everything! First, I always make sure that the opening is squeezed down to the right size, since this often cures a hard reed. And if it is still too hard, before scraping the tip again, it is important to scrape enough from the sides of the heart inside the rails and the shoulders so that the reed will vibrate easily. If there is still a bit of fizz in the sound you can "dust" towards the extreme corners using a flat plaque, evenly on all four quadrants.
Don't forget Martin Schuring's sterling advice (his "golden rules" of reedmaking):
1. Sharpen your knife
2. Don't make any mistakes
And then, if the reed has gone a little flat you can clip a hair from the end and start the process again.... 
And now, tell me honestly; If you had known about reeds before you started, would you still have chosen the oboe?
J.
Post Edited (2010-07-05 17:07)
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Author: hautbois francais
Date: 2010-07-05 23:05
Reed making is an art not an exact science. Making a good reed to fit you and your oboe is a lifelong endeavor.
I would concentrate of the tip and the sides of the tip for the "stuff" in the sound u are getting. It takes a lot of patience to get the tip even on ALL 4 sides. This is the art, as is is quite impossible and use a micrometer to measure everything out. Decades ago, I had even made reeds under a SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) to try to get things just right......even a "so called" bulit-perfect reed is not so when you play it. That is the art.
The perfect reed is one that produces the sound you want, everytime and does the job consistently.
It does take a certain character/resilience to choose the oboe as an instrument of choice.
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Author: RobinDesHautbois
Date: 2010-07-06 00:25
It also depends what you mean by "stuff".
One of these replies mentioned avoiding any bump or hump: I fully concur with this so much that I never do windows.... many other debates on this.
But there is also some relationship between the density of the cane, the length of the tip and the the type of blend. If one of my reeds is too buzzy, often I "back-up" the blend and chop the tip.
Often, removing bumps AND thinning the sides (from back of rails to front of heart) will do 3 things: make the reed more responsive (less than working blend), darken the tone, get rid of fuzz.
I also agree with the replies that said:
1. "spine" al the way to the tip
2. it is often (not always) more of a shadow than a visible thickness
3. that shadow is the by-product of knife movement rarely directly scraping the center meridian.
Check-out the hand-drawings on my web-site. My methods can be used with American scrape, except you'll want to keep the heart thicker than what I indicate.
Robin Tropper
M.A.Sc., B.Mus., B.Ed.
http://RobinDesHautbois.blogspot.ca/music
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Author: oboeobo
Date: 2010-07-06 00:35
Haha, would anybody have chosen the oboe? So far so good on the results, my reeds have been much more pure sounding. Thanks! Now to build fliexibility into my stability!
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Author: johnt
Date: 2010-07-06 00:46
It does take a certain character/resilience to choose the oboe as an instrument of choice.
hautbois francais (above)
Elementary bravery, said the great one, John Mack.
Best,
john
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Author: hautbois francais
Date: 2010-07-06 00:54
http://robin-hautbois.users.sourceforge.net/
Robin's site is excellent....though the scrape is different but the basics and advanced techniques to reed making can be gotten in a lot of detail.
And yes, the spine at the tip is inherent with the scrape which should always be done at an angle. The sides of the tip needs to be the thinnest part of the tip. Bumps and humps near the tip are nothing but trouble, smoothing them out will solve a lot of problems with response.
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Author: RobinDesHautbois
Date: 2010-07-06 10:31
Just thought of this: again, it depends on what you mean by stuff.
I often get fuzzy sounding reeds - along with chocking sensations - when my reeds overlap or "slip". When this happens, no technique or amount of scraping will compensate.
I do like the French and fight like crazy to prevent slipping. But this might also have to do with body physiology. Tying past the end of the staple has a similar effect - no school appears to promote that.
Robin Tropper
M.A.Sc., B.Mus., B.Ed.
http://RobinDesHautbois.blogspot.ca/music
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Author: hautbois francais
Date: 2010-07-06 12:10
Robin:
"stuff" that everyone is referring to is like a stuffy nose when you have a cold. Maybe your description of choking and fuzzy is a close call to the "stuffiness"....I think, this word is coined by most American books on reed making.
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Author: jhoyla
Date: 2010-07-06 13:07
From oboeobo's original mail it was clearly referring to "extra" sounds, "fuzz", not "stuffiness".
Nevertheless, all of the advice given is sound and has made a difference, apparently.
J.
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