Author: oboeblank
Date: 2006-10-10 03:35
There are a couple of things you should try, and they may sound very basic, but you may be missing a step here or there:
-Wax your thread, preferably with bees wax and use either EE or FF nylon or silk.
-Give yourself enough working room between the thread hook, or C-clamp and the reed so you can easily bring your spool around and not knock your hand into the desk or table.
-Tie the reed to the correct length for that piece of shaped cane.
-Cane needs to be tied on the lengths on the lengths of oval, not to top of the oval.
-When you fold the cane over the tube, mark the end of the tube (hopefully 47mm) with pencil or pen and do not tie over that line. Get a calipers or one of those sliding rulers where you can lock it at the correct measurement, they are very useful. Also when you have finished tying re-measure the tube length to make sure that you have not tied over the tube. NEVER TIE OVER THE TUBE. If you did, cut the cane off and re-tie the reed.
-Thin the ends of the cane-the portions that will be hidden by the thread.
-Start winding two or three turns BELOW the top of the tube, cross over and continue to tie towards the cork. Do not pull very tight on the first couple of turns. Once the thread is around the cane and it is centered, gradually pull so that both sides close at the same rate. If the initial turn is very tight you will almost always crack the cane. You need to maintain even tension during the winding process, and it is critical during the begining.
-As you tie down towards the cork, put two loops of thread on the tube, as close to the one before it and pull tight. Try not to leave gaps in the turns of thread-besides looking bad, you may have leakage and the reed may come undone. If you can move the cane around on the tube, the tension was too light; cut the cane off and start again.
-Maintain a constant degree of tension between the guide thread-coming from the clamp or hook, and the spool. It should not be too tight, but there should be sufficient tension there.
Having said all of that, it is best, if you can to search out a teacher and put yourself in their hands. Books can only teach you so much when in comes to reed making, and the frustration and wasted money on supplies will not be so severe with the guidance of a teacher.
Hope this helps.
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