Author: cjwright
Date: 2012-12-03 03:57
Scraping the windows is one of the most overlooked steps to the reedmaking process, but like everything else, is critical that it's done correctly.
All of this does depend on where you place the reed in your mouth. If you take more reed in, make the heart longer and thinner while shortening the windows, if you take less reed in, make the heart shorter but a little thicker and the windows longer.
Start by making an oval on one quadrant of the reed. Then make another oval about 2/3rds the way up and another oval 1/2 up from the 1st oval. Thick of it as "terracing" rather than just random scraping.
Knife technique to scraping the back is important. There is the regular scrape which takes off cane but is not a "gouging" kind of scrape, and there is a dusting kind of scrape. I start with the regular and by the 3rd oval am dusting. You never need to scrape so hard you're just gouging out cane. That is a guaranteed way of having an uneven, and usually over-scraped back. This also creates "ridges" or catches in the reed which stop the vibrations and usually prevent you from getting the 2nd and 3rd C in the crow.
If you're looking straight down a reed and so the two blades follow the x axis, tilt your knife at a 30-35 degree angle rather than just scraping on a flat axis. This will help ensure you maintain the spine correctly. As you scrape, I find it easiest to start just next to where I want the spine and then work your way out until you're scraping just inside the rail. Then, if you need to thin the spine, do it gradually by "pushing" the spine from side to side, as if you're at the beach and you have a ridge of sand in front of you. If you push the ridge of sand to one side, it moves, but it get's a little smaller, and then if you push it back, it gets a little smaller. Same idea.
Know that the windows do the following:
1. They lengthen the vibrations for a fuller rounder sound, and create a less "tippy" tone.
2. a. They close down the reed, usually just behind the heart.
2. b. Because they close down the reed, they'll focus the sound/vibrations a bit.
2. c. Also because the opening is smaller, it requires less air to get a response, so the reed will vibrate quicker without as much air.
3. It will drop the pitch, for better or for worse.
Obviously 2a-c are the most important for the functionality of the reed, so scrape your windows in lightly then test the reed. If you find:
1. You want to pinch the back closed.
2. You need to pinch the reed closed with your embouchure in order to control it.
3. You need to pinch the reed with your embouchure in order for it to respond.
4. Your reed is hard and sharp.
... then you probably need to scrape more out of the back.
The biggest reason why novice reedmakers want to scrape the windows more is because they want a less tippy sound, darker sound, and more resistance, but unless the reed is in balance this will be end up closing the reed down to nothing, flattening a reed a quarter step flat, making the reed impossibly resistant, or a combination of all.
This will all be in my reedmaking book, which I am seriously going to start writing within the next two weeks.
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