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Re: Flat middle c, non reed related

Author: HautboisJJ
Date: 2010-01-16 05:20

Hello everyone,

A few days ago i made a final decision to bring it to a local repairman for the adjustment, but lucky me, i managed also to bring my reeds to my teacher at the current moment for diagnostics.

She plays on a rough -1 shape (It's Hortnagel i believe and since they are bought reeds she has no idea as well..) with Guercio D26 staples, Glotin copies basically. Meaning, flat, on my oboe with the Gs and Cs. On her oboe, a Sound Alchemy, there is obviously no such problems, certainly not to a serious extend depending on which reed...

She played on my reeds, the result is, she has also a bit trouble getting the Cs and Gs to work, but it seems that, probably because she plays on thumbplate, she has slightly less a problem. So, we concluded that the oboe is not such a big problem and that there were 3 possible things to try out:

1. Change the staple, it has to be narrower, i was previously using 2+ Rigoutat copies from Chiarugi. I tried before no.1 but that destroyed my 2nd octave. I received my new Chiarugi no. 2's on that day, so that would be my next staple to try.

2. Quality of cane. It seems that Ke Xun tube cane has a larger percentage of softer cane and i have been using a lot of cane that is perhaps too soft. With slightly harder cane from other sources and a shortish scrape, it was possible to get that C sometimes, strangely enough, so gone with the Ke Xun cane, at least, i have to nit pick a bit more now knowing that fact.

3. The shape. Using a -2, i have had many people tell me that it shouldn't be much of a problem. My reeds are tied very well so they really do not overlap (i believe in this method), resulting in reeds that are tied like Ke Xun's, Mark's (thank you Mark for showing me the way!) and other reputable makers. That seems to result in a bigger internal volume which is also a factor in the saggging of the Cs and Gs. But the quality of response and warmth in tone means i should not give up this method, so gone with the -2 and i tried to -1 instead.

I produced 6 reeds on that night using various sources of cane and using the above methods and materials and received a complain from my hostel neighbour for creating too much noise at 2am. =D Voila! The reeds worked!

So not so much the oboe but the reeds. But now, i am getting reeds that close a bit quicker than usual perhaps because of the shape and not using any wire at all. I will try a slightly wider shape in the future to see whether that all comes together better but i also suspect that my scrape is a little too light for this type of reeds...i did bring it to a local repairman afterwards for a small widening of the C tone hole chimney because both of us didnt want to create an unstable middle C and now it is much more stable, but still not so good with the wider shapes....

The quest does not end here, impossible is the work of us oboists! ( and all that together with practising Gillet studies? 0_0 )

Regards,
Howard

Post Edited (2010-01-16 05:22)

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