Author: d-oboe
Date: 2006-06-10 20:15
My method is to "make reeds when I already have good ones." It takes a bit of discipline to work this way, but the results are so much better, as stress isn't a factor in producing a functioning reed. And of course, you are less likely to make mistakes...but if you do, you can just stop, rather than frantically moving on to the next reed.
I try to keep all my available tubes full - whether it is an unopened blank, a partial scrape, a new reed, an aging reed, or a retired reed. I really feel that cane benefits enormously from just sitting around, tied onto the tube. It seems more "relaxed" and settled, rather than raw. I once had some partially scraped reeds that sat for a month before I actually did something with them, and it was so easy to scrape them!
I admit it takes a good long time to build up a stock of good reeds - not just saving bad ones - but with consistency it'll happen!
I personally recommend making fewer reeds, but more often. That way, if something goes wrong, or the gouger isn't working, or the reeds are leaky (that's a BIG one) only a few reeds get tossed rather than 30. And, it helps rectify the problem early on.
Since I keep my tubes mostly full, I usually only replace 2-3 reeds per week. (scraped-out into reeds, not just blanks)
D
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