Author: mschmidt
Date: 2013-09-08 16:59
Thank you, huboboe, for this detailed description of shaper tip hardening. I searched for "shaper tips" on the Board precisely to find out what you have outlined.
The reason for my search was that I have been having problems with the last two batches of shaped cane I purchased. Reeds from these batches have had a tendency to be both more open and more flat. I suspected that perhaps the grading of diameters had been sloppy, or that the cane source had changed...but then, yesterday, I put a newly finished reed next to an old standard (from an older batch of cane) and noticed that the new reed was noticeably wider. I always ordered the same shape, but I wondered if the old shaper tip that had perhaps been used for hundreds or thousands of pieces of cane had been replaced by a new shaper tip, which was less worn, and a bit wider. Is this a reasonable hypothesis?
I have also had the experience of ordering cane from multiple suppliers with ostensibly the same shape--Pfeiffer-Mack--and seeing distinctly different shapes in the cane I received. I suppose this might be well-known and understood to those who specialize in shaping, but it was something of a disappointment to me.
I think that perhaps this is all leading to the conclusion that I need to shape my own cane....
Mike
Still an Amateur, but not really middle-aged anymore
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