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Re: wire for Oboe reed

Author: RobinDesHautbois
Date: 2010-11-16 10:22

I used to do American scrape when I was a student, but abandoned "windows" completely in favour of an elongated type of European scrape - it might look American sometimes, but really no windows or hump. Now, my reeds are more and more text-book German.

I have always found that reeds close too much in 3 circumstances:
1. really dry cane
2. Montreal or Ottawa dry-cold winters
3. (most important) tying beyond the staple end (even half a turn)

The third case is significant and bad: it will cause severe instability, but worse, the reed will tend to choke on you after only a few minutes, no matter how you scrape and no matter how you soak. It can be frustrating because those first few minutes can seem like the best reeds imaginable - and then just gump!

If the wire does the trick for you, great! For myself (this is one of those individual body physiognomy things that just don't apply to everyone), I prefer better tying (never allow sideways slipping/overlapping) and to make due with reeds that open more. I soften the opening with thinner gouge - long scrape on thin cane means instability which is why my scrape is pretty well pure German.

Best of luck!

Robin Tropper
M.A.Sc., B.Mus., B.Ed.
http://RobinDesHautbois.blogspot.ca/music

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wire for Oboe reed new

mjfoboe

2010-10-19 13:49