Author: Oboe Craig
Date: 2011-01-02 12:57
Robin,
Good thoughts. The inconsistent pitch things you describe also seem to happen in the funny no man's land middle reed length where I experience the anti-node dampening.
My shorter reeds get so stable on pitch that no notes have pitch problems (these days). I mean they really lock in re: equal temperament tuning at A = 440.
I only play Covey oboes these days, and this was never true on Loree for me.
It may just be this batch of cane I am working with this week, circa 1981 Alliaud I got from Covey, that will work at greater length. I need to try the longer scrape on some other canes to see if they will cooperate as well.
I used to consider reeds to have 2 lives, long length and short length lives. I'd play them long until they were tired, then cut them short, extend the scrape back close to the thread and play them that way.
But one thing I avoid is using any reeds that have pitch problems on any notes.
I used to think that impossible until something John Mack said at his camp one summer. He said he required his reeds to do certain things, and response and intonation were not optional. Requirements.... what a great concept for reeds.
Players are still human and thing can go wrong, I just don't want the reed to be the problem, and what a long journey it was to get to that point. Really, probably 30 years of reed making.
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