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Re: Reed making

Author: d-oboe
Date: 2007-10-28 23:32

I do agree that everyone has their different styles, but my arguments for a longer reed are:

- More "built-in" response. With each successive clip, the reed becomes harder and harder. Which means that,
- Less cane has to be removed in order to achieve the same response as a shorter reed. The more cane that remains, the more stable the reed. The more cane that is removed, the less stable the reed becomes. The exception to this is final scraping on the extremities of the tip, as this actually decreases vibration, making the reed more stable.

Having said this, length alone doesn't ensure more stability. If the reed is scraped from the beginning to be finished at 69mm, then of course, leaving it at 71mm won't help. From the first scrape, the reed has to be designed longer.

The other reason for a longer reed is simply time - less time has to be spent scraping, because less cane is being removed.

I have seen people take a 73mm blank and put the top of the heart at 65mm - does the reed NEED a 8mm tip? No. Scraping that much away the reed is just a waste of time. My finished reeds have about 3-4mm of tip - so that's how much I put in from the very beginning. IF the reed is flat, then I move the tip down just a bit, and reassess.

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