 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: mjfoboe
Date: 2012-01-03 19:07
Hi,
Well its cold and dry. so - just like the year before ... I have where required/necessary wired my reeds.
And once again .... it works very well.
Good core sound and focus .... as well as good pitch stability in the upper register - since the reed does not collapse and close.
Why don't more American players wire their reeds?
By the way this is the same discussion started at the same time last year!
Mark
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Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2012-01-03 23:17
I 'wire' reeds if they need it;
I usually avoid the practice because I don't have too much trouble with the blades either leaking or gaping or collapsing, and I find that using wire tends to 'choke' the sound.
About half of my Cor reeds have wire.
GoodWinds
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Author: Oboe Craig
Date: 2012-01-04 03:47
If possible, can you post some HD pics...
I do wire my cor reeds about 1/3 of the time like Mary, but almost never oboe reeds.
And beside the pics, can you explain your criteria for wiring oboe reeds? Old dog here, still seeking new tricks...
I usually have a little trouble with wiring, so any of your tech tips would also be appreciated.
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Author: mjfoboe
Date: 2012-01-04 11:45
Hi Craig,
By the way . enjoy your Oboe playing!
I use a 28 gauge wire .... not too heavy.
I wire right above the base ... on the average about 3 millimeters above the thread.
I wire a reed with one major criteria ....... the opening is too closed.
I noticed I do this mostly in the winter. I assume the lack of humidity is the culprit here. At times I also wire if the reed opening is narrow and my reed is sharp. I find a slight increase in opening lowers the pitch nad also helps maintain pitch stability when I want to increase the volume or color of the air stream/tone.
I twist the wire initially with my fingers ... then finish with a pair of needle nosed pliers. Sometimes I purposely twist the wire to beak it - cause a hook like end which keeps the wire in place.
One thing I really like with the thinner wire ... is the I can adjust the opening just by squeezing the wire with my fingers.... either on the sides or the broad side of the reed.
I know it sounds counter intuitive ... but I find the wire reed to have a very good core sound and great pitch stability. Is there any loss of sound .. maybe very very slightly in the upper register. Although, when I record my playing it sounds fine. I think is more kinesthetic sense - difference - than anything else.
I'll try to upload pics at a later time ....
Mark
Post Edited (2012-01-04 12:15)
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Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2012-01-04 20:41
I think I use an even finer gauge wire, and wrap more times around.
Right now, among about 15 working reeds, I have wire on one.
Sometimes I'll use wire but the blades will (eventually) seal on their own so I'll take it off.
In dry weather, I do note that the blades 'gape' more, but soaking them longer usually fixes this.
If I have to use 'fish-skin', I know that the reed will never be among my best.
GoodWinds
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Author: Oboe Craig
Date: 2012-01-06 23:43
So, I wired an oboe reed today, because the tip was too closed.
Used 2 wraps, like I do on ehorn reeds, with 22 gauge brass wire and as usual it won't hold its place.
On cor reeds I position the wire where it sounds best then add a wrapping of teflon tape and that keeps the wire where I want it. (Otherwise it slips down when the reeds dry out.)
In the case of today's oboe reed, each time I bent the trailing wire down, it caused the wire to stretch or loosen around the reed and it would not hold its place. So, I re-tensioned it... and repeated probably 3 times.
A few rounds of this and the wire ended up just beyond the staple's end.
Then a little squeeze of the pliers on the side of the wire to open the reed. (Very little pressure, and the darned reed improved.)
It definitely has a different quality in some regards, more air support was needed for good responce, in particular, but I could adjust to it easily in a couple minutes and so now have to really think about this.
I will also try a single wrap next round as your pics show.
Anyway, the wire stuff has worked for me on cor reeds, but always remained a bit mysterious due to the popular advice that the wire would not be used to control tip openings and that it's purpose is to create a certain resonance and tone center for english horn. (See Weber reed manual...)
![[toast]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smiley15.gif)
-Craig
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Author: WoodwindOz
Date: 2012-01-07 01:55
I can't comment on American scrape, but all of my euro scrape K.Ge reeds come wired. I wired the first few reeds I made, mostly because they didn't seem to have enough resistance due to what I assumed was the reed being too closed. Sure enough, wire helped those reeds immensely.
I started off with 28 gauge wire based on advice I'd found online, but I have since found that 28 gauge (with a double wrap) is too flexible to give much support, and I seem to break the ends when I twist them together, so I have bought some 26 gauge and will try that soon.
In terms of how to apply, I use my fingers (lucky to have fingers small enough to do this!) to wrap the centre of the wire a couple of mm above the thread and on the crossover side, wrap both ends around the front of the reed (keeping the wire parallel), then cross and use beading pliers to twist together at the back. As I twist, I push the wire higher up the reed (up to 5mm - may of course change depending on the length of your scrape) and the combination of raising the wire and twisting at the same time makes the wire bed in pretty well.
Rachel
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Author: Oboe Craig
Date: 2012-01-07 15:49
Well I tried a single wrapping of wire on another American scrape reed today, stopping the wire just before the back-most part of the scrape. So, its not 5 mm up the cane but more like 3 1/2.
Good things happened for the reed which I thought was a little anemic in the low range. It somehow put some desirable body of sound and even good response on low articulations.
So, then I went back to the reed from yesterday and replaced the double wrap of wire with a single wrap.
Using your nudge it up technique while tightening the wire, sure enough it holds its place on the cane.
Thanks for that!
Now, onto experiment with the 25 reeds in my queue of 100 that seem to show some of that same anemia.
There are probably more variables at play than I realize, but after this brief success with the first two reeds, I find something to be very encouraged about in this topic.
Post Edited (2012-01-07 15:50)
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