 The Oboe BBoard
|
Author: mschmidt
Date: 2017-04-01 21:50
I have spent the last few weeks--well, maybe even months--befuddled at my inability to churn out oboe reeds like I used to. I had problems with cracking, reeds being to open, and reeds failing to seal up along the sides. Today I figured out why. In my reed-tying procedure, I use the flat part of the mandrel handle to align the blades of the cane, assuming that the flat part of the handle is parallel with the long dimension of the opening. Well, I just figured out today that the working end of the mandrel must have rotated in the handle by about 70-80˚ at some point. I was therefore trying to get the blades of the reed to curve around the part of the staple with a smaller radius--hence the cracking. And the excessive openness. And the lack of sealing.
The mandrel is a Guercio d12 mandrel, but it could well be that other mandrels are manufactured in such a way that this misalignment is possible. I am not posting this to disparage this mandrel, but to warn people that, if you have this "syndrome" with your reeds, check your mandrel!
I'm not able to realign the mandrel with the pliers I have available right now on my work table; the mandrel seems pretty "stuck" with this alignment. So I don't know how this happened.
Mike
Still an Amateur, but not really middle-aged anymore
|
|
  |
Mandrel Misfunction new |
|
mschmidt |
2017-04-01 21:50 |
|
Barry Vincent |
2017-04-02 02:47 |
|
jhoyla |
2017-04-03 11:40 |
|
Oblique |
2017-04-03 16:52 |
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
