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Re: Oboe Reeds, which are the best? Problems with flat reeds >>>

Author: vboboe
Date: 2005-07-04 23:02

Hi there Ashley, welcome!
You sound like it's time to learn how to fix reeds for yourself.

Commercial reeds too open? Reeds unresponsive? Reeds too flat?
Reeds don't do high register? Reeds too hard to play at first? ALL can be fixed.

What brand reed to get, what do I prefer -- it's always a gamble, all are variables, but I pay mid-range prices, and then I fix the reeds to suit me. At this exact moment I have medium hard Jones, La Voz and Dunkel in my playing set. All of them have been fixed, so they're actually mediums now. Need to get next hardness up, because there's more wood left on to reshape the reed in the fixing process.

I've done softer ones, they're no longer good choices for my embouchure as developed to date. I've also tried ready-to-play expensive hand-made pro-reeds, they had to be touched up to suit me also, so it wasn't worth the extra money to me.

Bottom line -- only the reeds you learn to make yourself suit you best ... and, as your playing embouchure evolves, so must the reeds be adjusted to suit you then. Also, if you learn reed-fixing skills, you can also learn how to extend the life of your reeds by trimming and reshaping a frayed tip, etc.

Several important things for selecting reeds until you know how to fix them yourself ... and competitive mid-priced brand names usually is irrelevant (except subjectively) ... but ... when you absolutely need a new reed ... what the store's got on hand is what you have to choose from, yes?

So, with what they've got in medium hards, I select the best combo of
... translucent tip (more responsive)
... fine grain cane (better overall tonality)
... smoother finish in the scrape (sweeter reed already and less finishing work for me)
... even and similar scrape both sides (less wild and unpredictable)
... 70mm length (too long = too flat, more fixing work needed)
... scrape not more than 3/4 down the cane (less likely to be flat)
... wider apertures (they'll always close down eventually)

... and, all other factors above being weighed, I'll choose a non-wired reed before a wired reed, although wire's easy enough to take off. My lips don't like rolling over wire.

You must, absolutely must, find a reed-making teacher (although I believe there's a good detailed video available out there, haven't needed it myself) to show you how to do that. Teacher will tell you what tools you need. Presume video will have a list too.

How find one where you live? Start by asking your present band teacher, music store, music schools with oboe teachers, checking out the yellow pages, etc.

What I don't think you need to know just now is how to make reeds from tube cane. Instead it would be more practical for you to learn how to fix ready-made reeds to play better for you, and not long after that you'll want to learn how to tie new cane on recycled tubes and scrape them down to your very own style of new reeds

It's cheaper to make your beginner's mistakes on economy coarse-fibred cane, but the reality is that good quality fine-fiber cane stands up longer when wet, takes longer to blow out, vibrates with less buzz against the lips, is easier to shave down, and produces more complex and beautiful sound.

Shortcut to making fewer mistakes is getting a teacher to show you how to do it right.

Good luck searching, hope you find somebody locally to help you.

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