 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: WoodwindOz
Date: 2012-01-23 03:04
I buy my staples from K.Ge as I have used their reeds since I started playing, so continued to use the staples from the old reeds, as well as refresh with new ones.
I buy their GE-2 model, which they describe as a standard diameter chimney and the staple they use on their pro reeds. They also sell a small-diameter chimney. Aside from leaks being less likely, what would the impact, good, bad or otherwise, be from choosing a smaller diameter chimney on a staple?
Also, I have heard of a trick to increase the size of the cork if it is loose fitting, something to do with a naked flame . I am improvising with plumbers tape and plastic food wrap, but as most of us like to reuse the staples, what it the trick (or if there are others) and how do I do it?
Thankyou!
Rachel
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Author: jhoyla
Date: 2012-01-23 05:13
The bore of your instrument, the shape and gauge of the cane AND the shape/length of your staples are a delicate balance. If you are going to experiment, please change only one of the above at a time, make and play several reeds over a long period of time; and then, please let us know what you have discovered?
A good friend gave me a couple of Frank & Meyer narrow bore 47 mm staples to play with, but I didn't experiment scientifically enough to draw any real conclusions. My initial feelings regarding intonation were that there was a slight improvement in the notorious E-F# range for my Loree C - model, and the tone was surprisingly full. But I am not at all sure this is repeatable - YMMV, MCN*.
Regarding the loose-fit of the staple. Evelyn Rothwell makes the "naked flame" suggestion in her reed-making manual - ".. As a more lasting and more drastic measure, moisten the cork well and turn it around near a low flame (a lighted match is good) until the gentle heat causes the damp cork to swell a little."
If this is a persistent problem on your oboe you should probably move to the O-ring type of staple - Thomas Nissen or Chudnow. These don't have any problem sealing, and Thomas Nissen even provides varying thicknesses of O-ring to suit even the widest reed-well. How many do you need? twelve? twenty? It's not a big outlay and they last, more or less, for ever. Invest now - once you've decided on your standard length and shape of tube, of course
J.
* your mileage may vary, may contain nuts
Post Edited (2012-01-23 05:39)
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Author: JRC
Date: 2012-01-23 19:09
The conical shape of the bore is cut at the top for the staple and the reed to complete the cone shape to represent the correct acoustics of an oboe, theoretically, that is.
However, there are several major deviations from the theory in real oboe. The wall is not without thickness. Natural acoustic response of an oboe in C needs to deviate from natural scale to live with un-natural tempered scale world and different scales in music. A reed is not a point source of sound. It has width, length, and volume. And so on and so on.
So... the reed and staple needs to roughly represent to complete the theoretical conical shape of the bore at the first cut. The volume and the length of the staple+reed become a major issue. Otherwise the relative pitch from all closed notes to open notes get out of whack. How much depends on how far off you are with the theoretical design point.
In real life, reeds with many different ways to scrape them has larger influence overall than the staple itself. Obviously length of the staple does matter. The volume of the staple does matter. The material, shape, and other details of the staple should not have much influence in relation to the length and the volume. Those are the major consideration in designing a bocal for English horn.
Fussing too much about staple may not be time well spent. Obviously one should search and find the correct length and volume of the staple that go well with one's particular oboe, the reed style and the way of playing the oboe. After that, everything else and details should be more of of one's psychological satisfaction.
If you believe something does help you to be a better oboe player, it would definitely help you become a better player regardless how illogical or how scientifically baseless.
For instance, I always imagine all the musicians I play with and all the audience being naked and get big smile and laugh out of it before I get into a trans with the music and sound I produce. There are countless impure thoughts one can indulge with to initiate a big smile and laugh. That is my routine. I always seem to perform better during performance than I do any practice or rehearsal sessions. There is no science or logic to this. But works every time.
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