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Re: When to Learn to Adjust Reeds???

Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-08-04 02:44

Clayton:

I started adjusting reeds probably about the same week I started playing the oboe. I was using my clarinet reed tools (glass, sandpaper, and razor blades), until some kind reedmaker told me I had better get the following:

a flat plaque
a wood block
a reed knife and india stone

Less critical, but also nice to have:

a mandrel
razor blades for tip clipping -- get this little thing used for scraping paint off of window panes (from the hardware store -- cheap)
wet and dry sandpaper or an emery board with a fine side

And yeah, I ruined a few. Ruined two today -- majorly tore the tip on one (new), and another one (old, thank goodness) cracked. All in a day's work.

Taking a little off the corners of the tip is standard procedure. Running a balky tip (just the edge) lightly over the emery board to thin it out can also work wonders, if it's not already too shrill. And scraping just a little at a time out of the blend (but not in the center) is the way to decrease the resistance -- sometimes taking just a tiny little bit out can make all the difference.

Martin Schuring's ASU site is still the best I've seen on this topic. http://www.public.asu.edu/~schuring/Oboe/Reedguide.html

Susan

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