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Re: Gouged, shaped and folded.

Author: d-oboe
Date: 2006-02-07 22:15

----"""""Also, you mentioned thick but "inert" rails, which is precisely my point. Leaving too thick a rails simply adds too much resistance for what I look for, and keeps the opening too wide."""""""--------

The point of the rails is that they are inert. They are supposed to be hard. The resistance is adjusted by scraping the channels of the reed, the tip, heart, and blend. If your reeds are too resistant, I wouldn't suggest scraping the rails to fix that.

-----"""""The last note I should probably make is that I learned from Jan Eberle, John Mack, and Joe Robinson that every day, I should take 5 pieces of ungouged cane (pregouged and cut to length only) and make 5 reeds (minimum), from scratch to full reed. The reed itself should take me no longer than 10-15 minutes to make (Mr. Robinson made his in 8-10, as did Mr. Mack) and I should play on the five reeds for that day. That way, I never had to wake up every morning and "wonder how my reeds would react", since every day the humidity changes, the weather changes, as well as several other factors. This theory goes along with my previous long post regarding keeping as many factors stable and consistent. If the reed itself is gouged too thick, I simply didn't want to spend 30 minutes per reed trying to take off as much cane as you suggest.""""""----

Remember I gouge thinner than you do. By referring to thicker/thinner gouges, I am referring about *relative* thickness.
As far as making 5 reeds from ungouged to finished in one day, that may well be a cool thing to achieve, but simply because John Mack did it doesn't mean that it should be the norm.
I don't want to sound harsh, because everyone has their own ways, and that's totally fine (really) - but oboists, especially students, could better spend their time practicing, instead of making reeds.
Personally, I tie two or three reeds per week, and scrape out one. I have always had a reed for performance/audition situations. It's more worthwhile to practice (and learn to play) on less than perfect reeds, than it is to constantly be making them.

About the humidity, weather..etc...affecting reeds.
Consider this: cane is quite durable, and since it is not growing anymore, it is relatively stable. We, as soft-fleshed humans, are not stable. We are constantly fluctuating with the weather. Has it ever happened where some days it seems like you have no endurance, or the reed all of a sudden seems too hard? In reality it's that your blood (pressure and density) has changed to accomodate barometric pressure and temperature of your climate.

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Gouged, shaped and folded. new

mschmidt

2006-01-31 18:59