 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: pzaur
Date: 2007-02-02 04:33
Ok, after reading the thread on who makes their own reeds, it started me thinking about how many reeds come out too soft?
When you use a machine to make the reeds from a pre-determined blank, wouldn't the reed coming out at the end have some serious differences in strength from one to another? Every reed from a manufacturer is cut using the same blank for that model and then tested to determine the strength.
I was reeding (pun very seriously intended!) some where that the strength of a reed depends upon how much the stalk would sway in the wind. True? If I made my own, I'd worry about what "strength" cane I was getting...
Just some questions stated and implied about reed making...
-pat
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2007-02-02 15:32
"strength" depends upon the material stiffness and density, which vary and the shape of the reed, which varies.
Playability depends upon the uniformity of the stiffness and density and can be improved by changing the shape of an individual hunk of cane (adjusting).
I imagine that a custom reed maker does a lot of fine-tuning --more than just adjusting.
At Bassoonarama last year, I watched Lynne Feller-Marshal make a bassoon reed. She had fixtures that controlled her cutting tool to form the width and thickness of the cane. She seemed to be willing to toss any that wouldn't give a good squak-y noise when finished. She adjusted the reed by squeezing the wire wrapping. Looked iffy to me.
Bob Phillips
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Author: cpark
Date: 2007-02-02 17:14
yes, I imagine they all have different strengths. But you can compensate for that by clipping to make it harder or revamping the reed to make it softer.
In the end you get more consistent results becuase you are in full control of the final strength.
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