Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-12-02 22:55
Craig --
Did you teacher (the one who taught you to "stagger" the windows) tell you *why* he liked to do this?
I don't really know. I have speculated (pure speculation!) that a little unevenness in the scrape might (might!) lead to a more complex set of partials being sounded when the reed is played, and thus give the impression of a "darker" sound. When I look at my all-time favorite reeds, their scrapes do tend to be a little asymmetric, but it has never been clear to me if the reedmaker (I buy my reeds) was intending that effect, or if that's just how they turned out.
I'd also raise for discussion the point that it may not be the shape of the windows, per se, but the relationship of the windows to the heart, that makes the difference.
I have found that my favorite reeds tend to have hearts that are relatively heavy, and windows that are relatively thin, with quite a pronounced "stop" where the windows meet the heart. The left and right sides of each blade on these reeds do not match (i.e., the stop will occur higher on one half of the reed than on the other), but the front and back blades of the reeds do match, more-or-less.
The other thing I have noticed about reeds with this sort of construction is that they last and last and last -- gotta love that!
Susan
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