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Re: Ross Gouge-Flatness/Spread Tone

Author: Oboeshawn
Date: 2015-08-01 04:14

Hi Operaoboe,

What you're describing is why I quit using the Ross gouge. But I can really relate to your "favorable memories" of past reeds with it. I think that is why it took me so long to give it up. The Ross gouge is the first machine I owned and I used it for the first 10 years or so of my career. It makes reeds fast--they vibrate quickly as you've noticed. My percentage of useable reeds however was super low--something like 1 in 10 (or 1 in 30 during particularly dark times). So, in retrospect, there really wasn't anything time saving about it. My problems were exactly as you said: spreading and flatness. With biting the reed you can somewhat cope with both of those issues together--but I found I tended to play with a small, metallic sound and actually sharp (or "flarp") because I was biting to contain the spread tone and to raise the pitch of the high register. I was also closing down my throat and mouth considerably to get the pitch up which contributed to a small, pressured sound. I tried many things to try and fix the problem, but basically I gave up and moved on to something else entirely. The benefits--active/resonant/warm sound--went away when I tried to solve the spreading/pitch problems. I suppose I could've switched to a more contained brand of oboe, but I've never strayed long from Loree oboes which feel the most like my voice.

I personally prefer working from a blank that causes me to draw out the vibration in an ordered way rather than doing damage control, desperately trying to calm it down from the get-go. At no point during the finishing process do I want to feel like I can't scrape the reed for fear of it going flat or the sound breaking apart. Scraping should always make the reed sound and function *better*. In other words, the more I reveal the gouge through scraping, the better it should feel, sound, and function. I don't want to have to manufacture structures in the scrape of the reed that should be there already from the gouge (extra spine or rails, too much from windows, etc.). My best reeds should have tip, transition, heart, and back that are all simple reductions of the existing gouge proportions--nothing fancy. I didn't find I could do that with the Ross and get the sort of results I'm after.

That said however, here are some things to try:

-a narrower shape: narrower shapes vibrate more reluctantly and therefore tolerate more scraping before spreading. The closer to parallel the sides of the shape, the more "up" the second octave will sit. Larger staples will also help with this as well, but you can go too far with that and lose your middle C and low G. Narrow shapes require more scraping, so they can actually play flat if the gouge isn't well suited. The scraping must be spot on, and a well sharpened knife is essential to get it vibrating well without over scraping it.

-thicker walled and/or larger bore staples: thicker walls vibrate less readily and can help calm down and mellow an overactive gouge. A staple with less differential between the size of the top and the bottom will help stabilize pitch and tonal core. Think of it like the difference between an oboe (conical bore) and a clarinet (cylindrical). The more cylindrical the bore of the staple, the more stable, but less colorful and vise-versa.

-measure the cane at the throat to check for symmetry: once you've shaped the cane, put it on the staple and use a ruler to get it placed where it would go at your tie length, then mark the sides of the cane at the four points where it meets the top of the staple. Take this "throat" measurement with a micrometer, getting as close to the edge as you can get before it falls off. If it's wildly different numbers that's guaranteed spreading. In my experience, anything less that .51 at that spot will result in a reed that wants to spread. My golden range is .52-.54, but the main thing is that it's the same (or pretty darn close) in all four places. This helps you know the piece gouged symmetrically and that you centered the shape properly on the gouge. The "ear" thickness measurement is also good to check for symmetry.

-cane selection: the Ross machine more or less "irons" the cane with it's heavy guide, so it will gouge almost anything you put in there. My experience with the Ferrillo is that it will spit out cane that isn't close enough to the right diameter or doesn't sit right in the bed--so it helps weed out cane that isn't ideal. Because the Ross doesn't do that, you have to be all the more demanding with what you put in there. I think in general 10.5-11 works the best. Smaller than that will give you too thin of sides. Make sure it's the same diameter the entire length of the cane, and that it isn't swaybacked across the entire arc of the outer bark. Place the pre gouged piece bark-side down on a truly flat surface and make sure it doesn't arch up and away (like a frown). It's ok if the ends come up slightly (like a smile). Rock the cane a full 180 degrees from edge to edge to check for this across the entire arc of cane. If the piece of cane isn't straight it won't pass this test on one of the edges.

gouging: Be sure you're centering the cane in the bed exactly when you turn it. Don't bear down on the guide when gouging--especially on the final passes. When you turn the cane for the final pass, how much comes off? It shouldn't be a huge strip and it shouldn't take off more on any subsequent passes. Once it finishes gouging initially, you should turn it and do one more pass--any further passes beyond that should not remove more cane. If they do, your blade isn't centered right and that will scoop out cane right where you're needing it to hold it up in pitch and together in sound. Make sure the cane isn't waterlogged when you gouge it--it will swell up and more will come off. Make sure the shavings coming off aren't too thick--anything more than .008 is dangerous; .005 or thinner is ideal (as long as it's not shredding). This might mean it won't gouge pieces that are soft and grainy--which isn't a bad thing.

All this said, some of my best reeds of all time were off the Ross gouge, so I understand why it's alluring. But it seemed like it was either making genius reeds or nothing useable at all--there was no middle ground. And that made me more than a little crazy!

Good luck!
Shawn

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