 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: Bryanwalker
Date: 2014-04-16 17:45
Hi everyone,
I recently graduated from university (non-music major) and, as a result, there are no performances or lessons in my foreseeable future. I have always favored the playing and sounds of European oboists and I think I want to try to experiment with short-scrape reeds. Can anyone here offer any suggestions on where to start?
Post Edited (2014-04-16 17:53)
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Author: Scandinavian
Date: 2014-04-16 20:04
Hello,
I would suggest that you order gouged and shaped cane from for instance oboe-shop.de. You will need a thinner gouge than you might be used to, I use 0.55-0.56 mm, medium hard cane of their selection. A very useful shape when trying "german" or "scandinavian" reed style is RC11 or RC12 from Roseau Chantant, I think you will find at least one of them at oboe-shop.de. These are similar to Kunibert Michel's 720 and 725 shapes. Tie on to a Chiarugi 2 or Guercio d12 staple. 47 or 46 mm is pretty much standard, tie on length would be appr 73 and 72 mm respectively.
Make a scrape that is 10-12 mm long, heart at about 0.40mm thick, tip maybe 1 mm long in the middle, longer at the edges, ca 0.08mm thick. No windows or sharp cuts, just a smooth ride from cane to heart and maybe a slight edge down to the tip. And there you go. ;-)
/Johannes
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Author: Scandinavian
Date: 2014-04-16 20:56
By the way, I haven't property introduced myself! I've been lurking in the shadows and dropped a few replies, but not participated for real..
So. I'm Johannes, I work as principal oboist at NorrlandsOperan in the north of Sweden. For anyone interested, I use a Sound Alchemy Bel Canto oboe and a Moennig cor. I studied with Erik Niord Larsen, Björn Bohlin and Mårten Larsson in Gothenburg and think I have a pretty typical setup for these parts of the woods.
That's it, I think :-)
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Author: WoodwindOz
Date: 2014-04-17 06:55
I learnt how to make short scrape reeds while in the US, believe it or not. I spent reed classes learning the basics that apply to all reed making, but my only instruction for constructing the short scrape was this:
http://www.openacademy.info/page18.html
I like this method because if you follow it well, it helps avoid taking too much out of the 'heart'. The first reed I made using this method worked.
If you know cane suppliers, my tip would be to avoid cane that you know is on the harder side, at least at first. I know that reeds I considered to be average to soft were almost impossible for my long-scrape friends to play. (Also, don't forget the gouge proportions are different to long scrape.) I also recommend starting with a French-style scrape (very smooth, no lumps or sudden transitions) rather than a German style, which includes a little more of a 'hump' past the tip, more of an obvious heart. They tend to require more support and are harder to attack, at least in my experience.
I think, for me, a successful short scrape reed involves directing the most attention to the outside edges of the scrape - and by that I mean the tip (mostly the corners of the tip), the sides (which certainly differs to a long scrape - no rails here!) and the bottom of the U (or whichever shape you choose), especially the sides of the U.
FWIW, I use K.Ge GS cane (suits our climate), on 47mm staples, tied to 73mm and finishing length around 71mm. My scrape is 10-11mm, which is fairly standard.
Good luck!
Rachel
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