Author: Craig Matovich
Date: 2007-05-12 21:52
What ohsuzan and d-oboe say can help...
But only if you have and can maintain a very good knife edge and know how to clip just the spit off the extreme tip.
In my oboe world, I find three lives to every reed, and as they age they become shorter, even very good down to 67.5 mm ( heresey!) on a 46 mm staple. Public playing only uses life 2 and 3. 1 is glorious but short-lived and unpredictable because the reed is not played in.
You can sometimes skip life 2 and go straght to 3 ... clip 1/2 - 1 mm off a 70 mm reed, rescrape the front of the heart moving it back a bit, 'dust' the back and thin the extreme end of the tip ( 1/2 mm or so ). If your knife technique is uncertain, use silicone sand paper (600 grain), wear it out a bit by rubbing two pieces together, ( I mean small 2 inch by 3 inch rectangles cut from larger sheets).
Then after a final very small clipping, almost just the spit off the tip, drag the tip corners ( 1 -2 sq mm ) using backwards strokes across the paper.
Hold the reed at an angle up from the paper and inclined first toward the left tip then the right. Repeat on each side. Do this lightly, just a few strokes on each corner. Sometines this works better with a fairly dry reed.
Resoak, and play test.
Cats get nine lives, why should a reed die with one?
Post Edited (2007-05-12 21:57)
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