Author: RobinDesHautbois
Date: 2010-07-06 10:27
You're perfectly right to be picky with staples: that's the one easiest thing to control with a perceptible effect. I haven't found the "right" staple yet, unless its the Chiarugi #2+ or #3..... only available through mail order in Europe, I think.
Shorter staples are perfectly fine. They don't really change the pitch much as another post had found. When I was in top shape, I could play from A= 435Hz to 450Hz, no sweat. To lower the pitch, I would pull out the reed like sax players do. To raise it: short staples & cane, narrow shape etc. but tone quality sometimes suffered.
What short staples do is make it easier to play higher, thus giving room to keep the cane longer. Longer cane, I find, gives better sound but it also risks instability and wider opening. HOWEVER: pitch is an interplay of many cane and scraping related issues.... I haven't compiled experimental results on this issue, so I'll relegate to the pros.
My trick for tying, because my staples always sink 2-3mm below the end of the mandrel: wind from the bottom of the cane untill the blades are almost closed, then use a sharp pencil to mark the cane where the staple ends and finish winding so the mark is still visible. Again, trigonometry and perhaps motion due to pressure: the mark tends to go up as the blades close.
"European reed", yes that's what I say. In fact its probably a hybrid as I fully agree with the American principle of soft-lipping which implies more closed reeds. I think hard-lipping might have come about with cane just getting gradually thicker as I've also heard French-school pros. mention soft-lipping as giving better sound. Also, soft-lipping leaves room to press and/or bite if need be.
Robin Tropper
M.A.Sc., B.Mus., B.Ed.
http://RobinDesHautbois.blogspot.ca/music
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