Author: SuzyQ's Mom
Date: 2003-09-27 14:56
Whenever I have a reed that doesn't sound, it is because the reed is too hard, or the tip is too thick. I bought a knife and Jay Light's book about reedmaking just so I could learn to adjust reeds. There are numerous internet sites that also tell how to adjust reeds.... "if it's too flat, do this; if it's too sharp, do that; if it doesn't respond, do this; if it chirps...etc.".
Truthfully, I have not had great success adjusting my reeds. I usually end up ruining them. I can get them to sound by thinning the tip, but then I usually end up with a "quacky" sounding reed. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
I went to a double-reed camp last summer and was taught how to make my own reeds. I've yet to finish one completely, but I have ruined 20 or so. Whenever I get to the point where the tip is looking good, somehow or another I manage to put a crack straight down the reed. I am coming to the conclusion that I need to just buy reeds and learn to adjust them instead of trying to make my own reeds. It's too expensive to experiment on making my own reeds.
I just received an order of an assortment of reeds from wwbw.com. The only reed that plays for me without any adjustment is a Gower reed. The Marlin Lesh Pro (handscraped) is too hard, the Woodwind Artist medium barely plays, and the Woodwind med.hard doesn't play at all. I'll need to scrape on them somehow, and hopefully without ruining them, to get them to play.
I wonder.... if I was to buy more Gower reeds, will they work as well as this one I just got? Or will they vary as I've noticed other brands of the same strength do?
I still would really like to learn to make my own reeds, but I think I need some one-on-one instruction. I bought a Landwell knife, thread, gouged and shaped cane, an easel, .....all the stuff to make my own reeds..... and I have too much $$$$ invested to give up already. So how many more twenty reeds do I need to ruin before coming up with a good one? :-)
By the way, I've been playing oboe for one year now and other than my reed problems, I really enjoy it!
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