Author: oboedrew
Date: 2009-10-27 16:25
mschmidt wrote:
> Well, yeah, except that the difference in blade lengths
> is about 0.1 mm at most, and if the opening is 1 mm,
> the angle of the line from one blade tip to the other is
> arctan (0.1) = only about 6 degrees. I have a hard time
> believing that that makes any difference whatsoever.
> Is your embouchre repeatable from day to day to a
> tolerance of 0.1 mm?
My own reeds are clipped at a very slight angle, but I've seen some extreme ones, so I don't think it's safe to assume that it's never more than .1mm difference. Anyway, the opening of an oboe reed is so small, and so little air passes through it, it's not a stretch to believe that just a little extra helps.
mschmidt wrote:
> My own hypothesis is that some oboists started cut
> the tip with a razorblade rather than a knife, and the
> result was that one blade ended up longer than the other.
A razor blade (or something sharpened similarly) should always be used to clip the tip. A reed knife, when sharpened correctly, makes a poor cutting tool. It should have a burr, which is used for scraping. A good cutting edge has the burr ground away.
Cheers,
Drew
www.oboedrew.com
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