The Oboe BBoard

The Oboe BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Re: backup instrument

Author: vboboe
Date: 2008-03-22 17:53

Every backup instrument includes reeds :-)

it sounds like you're describing 2 mm 'ears' -- two little sticking out protrusions both sides of the fold and the rest of the cane below is "tucked in" and much narrower?

Various solutions and options
first, figure out if you've got enough cane to cut off the fold and the ears all at once, so measure how long that would be (3.5mm?) and measure tie-on length to give you 71.5 after clipping -- so probably you'd have to tie on around 75mm, which is 'long'
-- downside of this option, cane tied on too long tends to make reeds that shut up easily (can wire them open, but wire reduces responsiveness)
-- but if you have a very open throat staple (almost circular oval rather than elliptical) the longer tie-on length isn't such a problem, so there's always a probability this option will work OK without wire
(you can gently reshape any tube with small needle-nose pliers around an oboe mandrel)
Longer tie-on length recommended for coupla-months novice reed maker, more wiggle room for clipping off frayed edge mistakes :-)

OR
another option for standard tubes and for the somewhat wiser but still novice reed-maker, tie on to a 'nudged 73mm' aka 73.5mm -- measuring from base of cork to the fold -- thin the tip down enough until ready to clip off the fold (optimum clipped length 72mm, minimum 71.5 before finishing the reed) shave the tip and rest of reed with whatever's left of the ears *until you've got an almost finished playable reed* then lastly 'finish' the tip by tiny diagonal cuts across the top edge corners, this will remove what's left of the ears -- if they haven't already been frayed off :-)

The bonus with leaving the ears on while making the tip -- as a novice reed-maker -- if you shave down too thin to a frayed edge on the corner edges, much too easy to do in the early phases of reed-making while getting the feel of the knife, the scraping angle, and not keeping it sharp enough! etc, at least you have some wiggle room to trim off frayed tip corner 'ears' nice and neat afterwards

OR
you can simply knife off the ears parallel with the sides -- it's easier and more reliable to do it 'clean' after removing the shiny outer bark and thinning the fold -- this is perfectly OK to do, especially when you're confident with your knife skills at thinning the tip

Sanding ears off takes a lot longer than clipping with a very sharp knife, but a bit of extra-fine sanding to finish the job really helps if you prefer the reed with a very smooth feel between your lips

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics

Author

Date

backup instrument new

EaubeauHorn

2008-03-21 16:53