Author: Oboe Craig
Date: 2011-10-14 20:56
Hi Rachel,
A couple things:
1) Get a good American Scrape guide. There are several good ones. My personal favorite is David Weber's Reed Guide.
2) My dimensions:
Cane 10.0 - 10.5 mm diameter for very open reeds.
I used 10.5 - 11 mm diameter for more comfortable reeds.
I gouge single-radius using and RDG machine set to center of .60 and side vary from .45 - .50 mm, usually depending on the cane's diameter. (The RGD has an 11 mm bed and so, the smaller cane acts a little differently in the bed while gouging.)
You may have trouble making long-scrape reeds with cane gouged for short reeds. Just save that, and get some cane set up for the Long-scrape.
Anyway, I use 46 mm tubes (don't really care which but have a lot of Glotin brass staples that serve me well.)
Right after I tie a reed blank, I rough scrape the tip, then rough in a back with no windows, then really thin the extreme tip and clip open the reed.
Then I slip the blade (you will hear a faint click most times). Put it away and let it dry. The slip is encouraged by a slight offset between blades. The the extra push or nudge to set the slip causes the click. I realize that may not mean much to you, but again, Weber cover's it with pics and words.
From that blank to a first day reed is 3-5 minutes and once it plays, I may fiddle around a little more, clipping it up to good pitch, but only play 5 -10 minutes and put it away again.
Next two days (sessions - could be more days of rest but I try not to to rush this part of the process faster than 3 days), I thin the tip, put in windows, and usually scrape out more in the back, thin and clip to pitch.
The final things I do, some call finishing the reed:
I adjust response carefully, (See David Weber's fine points on adjusting response and tone...), and then thin the extreme tip (last 1/4 -1/3 mm) scraping straight off the end until the knife hitting the plaque produces a very quiet click.
If needed for pitch adjustment upwards ( I mean 1 -2 hertz.. very small),I clip the tip. Really, and this is important, the clip must be as small as possible. At most, a hair's width. Sometimes less. Little more than the spit off the end of the tip.
If the reed is too responsive, I'll angle the cut so one blade is a little shorter (the one down in the embouchure), if its a little less responsive than I like, I'll do a cut so no blade is shorter. Again, the Weber manual explains this very well, has great pics of great player's reeds and diagrams to guide the process.
edited to fix my usual typos...:)
Amended with the following:
I tie to close, not to a fixed length. They tend to end up pretty consistent but sometimes cane just closes at a different overall length. Care must be taken not to wrap beyond the staple's end, and I usually make the blank close 1 - 1 1/2 wraps from the end using FF thread. My blanks tie longer than that Weber recommends as a max tie length, but good things happen for me, even if a slight leak needs plumber's teflon tape to seal. That happens to about 1/3 of my performance reeds overall.
Shaping and ties are my least favorite things about reed making, so I like to spend a few days in a row a couple times a year and refill my blank's box with 150 -200 blanks. I like to have a variety of cane sources represented, and color code them (differing threads) consistently so I can recognize the vintage of the reed at a glance.
I've thought about going blind on that, using black thread and keeping a journal to defeat my own bias' but then again, once I get to know a batch's tendencies, I like going right for the scrape and adjustments I know will work with them.
Anyway, then I just make a fresh reed 'candidate' a few mornings a week, it only takes a few minutes to start the gestation process and after a few sessions (5 -10 minutes each) the reeds qualify for performance, practice only or get sent to the recycle bin.
Working ahead is key. I almost never make a reed under duress (hated that part, too), so make a couple cases full, maintain a performance case, a second of reeds starting to tire (the big case) and just keep working enough to supply my demands. Demands vary with performance schedules, recording sessions, etc., but it always feels great to have a reliable supply and to be AHEAD of the curve.
That way I can absorb the runs of bad reeds, reed weirdness things that impact us all from time to time.
I posted my equipment and oboe info on some youtube posts if you will find those useful.
![[toast]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smiley15.gif)
-Craig
Post Edited (2011-10-15 22:49)
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