Author: mberkowski
Date: 2016-09-08 06:11
Hi all,
I'm getting back to extensive oboe playing after a 12+ year absence and trying to become self-sufficient at reedmaking. Through college, I only got 95% there as my teachers always seemed to say "What's that garbage you're playing on?" then grab my read and fix it with 2 or 3 scrapes...
Family responsibilities, work, & rehearsal schedules leave me without time for private lessons, so I've been trying to go it alone with a success rate of maybe one mediocre reed per 4 I attempt (and 3 unusable). Internet information is so much more plentiful now than 2001, and youtube is incredibly helpful; they've gotten me out of some situations. But an issue I've encountered a few times without finding a solution: unwanted extra screechy partials on high notes.
Sometimes I can get a good 2 octave C crow that doesn't seem to have extra noise, and the reed will have good response, low & middle range. But the higher register will include partials way out of whack - shrill, buzzy, whistling above A. I've had success darkening an overall shrill reed by scraping near the top of the windows (should've mentioned - American long scrape) but this makes little difference on the reeds in question. Clipping the tip, trimming corners, thinning sides of the tip don't help and it doesn't seem like the tip is at fault as strange as that sounds.
I match proportions to old reeds made by past teachers. They're tied on straight and I can't see damage to the staple. My current batch was shaped on RDG 1. I tend not to blend much between heart & windows. The blend is an inverted V to the tip (and I find the steeper, more defined I make it, the better low response I get).
So does anyone have a suggestion as to where I might try to scrape to these to rescue them, or a guess as to what could be causing it if they can't be saved? Thanks for your input.
Michael
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