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Re: Starting year 3, now gouging and shaping....

Author: cjwright
Date: 2009-08-03 21:16

oboedrew wrote:

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A gouger doesn't make cane harder or denser.

True.

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It doesn't make it any less likely to vibrate.The scrape frees the reed to vibrate.

I couldn't disagree with this statement more. The gouge helps determine how much cane the reedmaker needs to scrape off. And the more subdermal cane that needs to be scraped off, the less natural strength is left in the internal structure of the reed. In this regard, the gouge actually does determine whether the reed is more or less likely to vibrate. There are countless sources/reedmaking manuals that confirm this fact. (Cheryl Wefler's, Jay Light's, David Weber's, etc.)

The critical function is the rate of taper. If an oboist takes five different pieces of cane from his/her gouged cane and looks at it straight on, he/she will see that they each have a different rate of taper. Some stay thick in the center area and then begin to exponentially fall off in thickness closer to the sides of the cane (2 or 3 mm's from the center point of the piece) while other's begin to exponentially get thinner closer to the center (1mm from the center or so.)

When measuring this, you can imagine the effect it will have on the reed. The pieces that are thicker in the middle section generally produce more covered, sometimes "stuffier" reeds, while the cane with a faster rate of taper is generally more vibrant (since there is less cane in the channels that require scraping, and thinner sides).

When you gouge a piece of cane, you set the shape of the internal radius of the cane. No scraping on the outside can change that internal shape, and therefore just by taking more time to "adjust to the gouge" doesn't necessarily mean that you can make a good reed out of nothing.

I wish Craig Matovich was still around on this board, because he knew all sorts of things about scientific acoustical figures that he could provide us. The gouge doesn't only effect the tone, but also effects how in-tune or not-in-tune octaves are.

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Some oboists believe the gouge is the key to good reeds. Naturally, these oboists believe they've discovered the "right" gouge.

I don't know anyone who believes they've discovered the "right" gouge. In fact, this was the reason why so many people are always tinkering with their gouge. Not only does the blade wear down quickly which changes the gouge with every piece they gouge, but weather changes, humidity changes, and the music they're playing changes, forcing them to change their reeds.

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You can't make good reeds with a bad scrape, no matter what the gouge.

True.

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And despite the claims of a few famous players, there's no "right" gouge, no secret weapon. .

Like I said, I don't think anyone claims to have the right gouge, but some gouge curves are better than ever.

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If there were, every oboist would be using it, and reedmaking would be easy.

Drew, have you seriously ever ground a gouging blade to experiment with different curves?
Have you ever used digital machinery to make sure the parallels, rod, bed, guide, etc. are exactly in line?
Have you ever set up a gouging machine from scratch?

It's HARD. Even for some of the most experienced professionals/repairmen, setting up gouging machines is not a "fun" experience, nor is there anything "easy" about it. That's why the machines are so darn expensive, and why nobody charges less that $400 to set up gouging machines.

Cooper
cooperwrightreeds.com
cooperwrightreeds.wordpress.com

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