So, this EH I’m interested in…
Monday July 30 2007
Certainly sounds interesting. Mr. Weber received it, and had to do some revamping on the instrument since it had gone all out of whack since the last time he tried it. While fixing it, the key even came off the hinge tubing! Imagine that? He said he soldered it back and it is stronger than ever now, but I was certainly surprised to hear that bit of information. He said it is a fine instrument, with this bit of warning.
All aspects of the EH are really fine, as you are expecting. However, any oboe or EH of an older vintage will show its age via metal fatigue – thus the EH being returned with keys & rods not where I had them before. You, as an experienced player, will find no problem with this normal condition.
After my confusion about a “key breaking off”, Mr. Weber clarified.
No, the key did not break off. When bending long keys, like the EH has several of, esp. RH G#, that puts lots of pressure on the solder joint. The joint itself let loose, where the touch piece was soldered onto the hinge tubing. Not unusual, just a nuisance. Even nearly new instruments can do this, just not often Loree’s. Early Lorees, B series, were hand made. Today, Alain de Gourdon has bought much new equipment, and he is thriving in the digital milling machine era. His key mechanics are topped by none. Earlier, in his father’s day, all was hand made, and even hand made by artists annd experts, sometimes the solder joints did not hold up forever. We expect more recently. Don’t worry about this solder joint. However, any older horn will have metal fatigue and have had lots of stress from loving playing.
Quite an interesting bit of information. I didn’t know this about older horns.
Meanwhile, I will wait a month until I get to AZ to try out this horn. I’m very excited about the possibility of it being “the one”, as well as learning how to make shaper tips (I will copy Mr. Weber’s copy of Mr. Rosenblatt’s EH tip) and getting my Graf #2 fixed up.
Read the Rest
So, this EH I’m interested in…
Monday July 30 2007
Certainly sounds interesting. Mr. Weber received it, and had to do some revamping on the instrument since it had gone all out of whack since the last time he tried it. While fixing it, the key even came off the hinge tubing! Imagine that? He said he soldered it back and it is stronger than ever now, but I was certainly surprised to hear that bit of information. He said it is a fine instrument, with this bit of warning.
All aspects of the EH are really fine, as you are expecting. However, any oboe or EH of an older vintage will show its age via metal fatigue – thus the EH being returned with keys & rods not where I had them before. You, as an experienced player, will find no problem with this normal condition.
After my confusion about a “key breaking off”, Mr. Weber clarified.
No, the key did not break off. When bending long keys, like the EH has several of, esp. RH G#, that puts lots of pressure on the solder joint. The joint itself let loose, where the touch piece was soldered onto the hinge tubing. Not unusual, just a nuisance. Even nearly new instruments can do this, just not often Loree’s. Early Lorees, B series, were hand made. Today, Alain de Gourdon has bought much new equipment, and he is thriving in the digital milling machine era. His key mechanics are topped by none. Earlier, in his father’s day, all was hand made, and even hand made by artists annd experts, sometimes the solder joints did not hold up forever. We expect more recently. Don’t worry about this solder joint. However, any older horn will have metal fatigue and have had lots of stress from loving playing.
Quite an interesting bit of information. I didn’t know this about older horns.
Meanwhile, I will wait a month until I get to AZ to try out this horn. I’m very excited about the possibility of it being “the one”, as well as learning how to make shaper tips (I will copy Mr. Weber’s copy of Mr. Rosenblatt’s EH tip) and getting my Graf #2 fixed up.
Read the RestVery interesting Clarinet reed
Sunday July 29 2007
I found this Clarinet reed on my friend’s website. It’s interesting to see how they mark the areas, and how they mark how different locations effect different areas in a clarinet’s range. I think in many ways, the picture has a lot of similarities to an oboe reed. Although I can’t prove it, I do believe the “upper range” and “middle range” areas marked on the clarinet reed have relatively the same location on a blade of an oboe reed.
The historic reed continued.
Sunday July 29 2007
I played the first two moments of the Bach G minor partita memorized last night on a recital. The good news was I had no memory slips, and played it pretty smoothly. The downside was that I practiced pretty hard that morning and afternoon and thought I had given myself enough time in between, but I didn’t. My mouth got pretty tired, and I missed some low note attacks. Bummer. but the historic reed held up well, and played beautifully with great tone and response. It also had a great range of dynamic range.
I’ll play Ich Habe Genug twice next week, once in the morning service and once in the afternoon service. I’m looking forward to using the special reed to see how things go.
I have a new order for reeds from a man in Georgia! The problem is, all of my individual reed cases (the plastic clear ones) are in a box, on a boat, on the way to the states. So I need to figure out a safe way to ship them without getting damaged.
A reader’s question: Tying problems
Friday July 27 2007
Hey×another question for you. I received this new
batch of gouged&shaped cane, and out of 7 tied on, 3
leak terribly near the throat (right above the string
end).
I’ve move my tie-on point down to 72, from 73.5 with
other cane I’d been using, because its obvious the
sides don’t close if I tie on longer.I’m soaking the cane until it sinks (about 1/2 hour).
If I move the tie-on point any further down, the sides
start to open back up again, so I think this 72ish
range is the sweet spot. If I pull any harder on the
string, it breaks. Any suggestions? Just for the
heck of it, I’m going to try wax on my string on the
next reed I tie.
Most certainly use wax! It allows a tighter tie, and also gives some sealing properties to cane down by the string.
That said. do you overlap your cane when you tie it? I always tie with the idea that I’ll slightly overlap my reeds with the top blade slightly to the right (if the tip is facing upwards).
The person you buy cane from might have a faulty tip as well. I used to own a RDG… -1N that wouldn’t seal for the life of me. I tried and tried, but I couldn’t get it to seal. Meanwhile, my former teacher, Mr. Stolper used to always tie with the RDG… -1N and I never had any problems with his tip. The two tips were just slightly different.
Finally, what staples are you using? Some staples have lower tying points (i.e. wide staples like the Chudnow) with tips that have a thinner throat area. Don’t be afraid to tie shorter (although I probably wouldn’t want to tie below 72). I think you’re right in simply trying to figure out what the longest length of the reed can be tied while still sealing.
By the way. When I move back to the States, I’ll be selling gouged cane and gouged/shaped/folded cane for about $1.75 a gouged piece, $2.15 per shaped piece, and I’ll guarantee consistency! I have a paypal account, so I think people could easily send me funds via paypal rather than hassle with a check.