 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: mschmidt
Date: 2017-04-01 21:50
I have spent the last few weeks--well, maybe even months--befuddled at my inability to churn out oboe reeds like I used to. I had problems with cracking, reeds being to open, and reeds failing to seal up along the sides. Today I figured out why. In my reed-tying procedure, I use the flat part of the mandrel handle to align the blades of the cane, assuming that the flat part of the handle is parallel with the long dimension of the opening. Well, I just figured out today that the working end of the mandrel must have rotated in the handle by about 70-80˚ at some point. I was therefore trying to get the blades of the reed to curve around the part of the staple with a smaller radius--hence the cracking. And the excessive openness. And the lack of sealing.
The mandrel is a Guercio d12 mandrel, but it could well be that other mandrels are manufactured in such a way that this misalignment is possible. I am not posting this to disparage this mandrel, but to warn people that, if you have this "syndrome" with your reeds, check your mandrel!
I'm not able to realign the mandrel with the pliers I have available right now on my work table; the mandrel seems pretty "stuck" with this alignment. So I don't know how this happened.
Mike
Still an Amateur, but not really middle-aged anymore
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Author: Barry Vincent
Date: 2017-04-02 02:47
Hi Machmidt . Thanks for the 'heads up' on this. I"ve just checked mine. I'ts a Chiarugi 2 and it's correctly lined up. A few years back I had the same problem with a different brand of mantel but I can't remember what type it was. Somehow I still managed to make reeds on it.
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Author: jhoyla
Date: 2017-04-03 11:40
Mike,
for years now I have been aligning the blades on the mandrel by feel alone. I use a tiny length of drinking-straw about half way up the blades to hold them closed, I then insert the staple and carefully work it inside to the tie length. You can tell by feel when the staple is flat with the blades.
I insert the mandrel until it is snug, and then grip the flat of the blades and twiddle the staple until I can feel that the flat of the staple is still aligned with the flat of the blades, and is more or less centered. I totally ignore the flat of the handle - it could be round, as far as I am concerned!
I wrap the first couple of wraps low and pretty loosely, start applying tension to the thread, and slowly close the blades evenly around the staple by rolling the reed up and down the thread while applying tension. A final check for alignment and then wrap over and hammer down on the tension all the way to the cork, and tie off.
J.
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Author: Oblique
Date: 2017-04-03 16:52
Mike, sorry for your problem, but happy that you found the cause and that you posted here to warn us about it.
I tried my first attempt last night. Home made knife, home made mandrel, wrong nylon thread, cheapest shaped reeds I could find. The outcome of the first two were as you would expect. Badly. In both cases the reed split. I was surprised by how hard the cane really is, how difficult it is to get the sides of the reed to come together and how easily my home made plaque would slip out. I won't bore you with my future attempts, but hopefully you found humor in remembering your time in learning this ability.
If you have a link to information about this, it would be appreciated.
Bob.
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The Clarinet Pages
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