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Re: Gougers

Author: RobinDesHautbois
Date: 2010-07-10 11:16

I own a beaten-up old clunker of a gouger, custom-made in the 1950-60's by God knows who for a Toronto oboist of that time. I like Kunibert Michel products from having used them, but not for long. His shaper tips, in my opinion are sensational - I have not yet tried Nagamatsu (I'll do that next week).

My pre-gouger was also likely custom made as it is the simiplest thing you've ever seen: but that's OK, the purpose of the pre-gouger is only to get the cane to fit in the machine.
=> I might buy a new one, similar to the one at http://www.rdgwoodwinds.com/oboe-damore-pregouger-115mm-p-140.html just because I'm tired of cutting my fingers (slipping over the cane) on the one I have now!
=> gougers often come with a "guillotine": a cane chopper that is used after the pre-gouging..... I don't see how you could chop before pre-gouging.

My advice on sharpening and re-shaping the blade: don't do it!!!! get a professional to do it!. If you have to ask how it's done, best not do that. It's REALLY hard to get right and takes a long time to redo the setup.
=>"Tinkering", in this case, is not where you'll make several changes a day. Usually, I make an educated (purposeful) change, gouge a few hundred pieces over several months, compare the results and then choose to keep it as is or change and start over again.
=> Changing weather seems to affect the reeds just as much as cane specifications, so I need to use the same specs. over a very long time to really determine the results.

It's all about the relative curve between the bed and the blade, which becomes the outside and inside of the cane. Obviously, to play with the curve, you need a good old fashioned plane-type blade similar to http://www.forrestsmusic.com/detail/H-32_Image.htm. The idea is that the only thing a person should hope to worry about is the blade, nothing else.
==>> But I often consider buying a new machine from a place that sells blades in different diameter and offers sharpening services!

Diameter: of course, it's always best to get a machine bed with exactly the diameter you want, but when the cane is well soaked, it will mold itself to slightly different diameters. What I do is use my comparator micrometer to measure the difference between center and side. Copper gave great info in his reply to my posts http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=10&i=15967&t=15898

Robin Tropper
M.A.Sc., B.Mus., B.Ed.
http://RobinDesHautbois.blogspot.ca/music

Post Edited (2010-07-10 11:20)

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