Geez, maybe it’s harder to explain than I thought…

Wednesday August 01 2007

Proofreading my previous post, I realized it was only five posts ago I wrote—

“I think a lot of oboe players are afraid of the gouge, or think it’s some mysterious secret only revealed to the holy and sacred.”

— and then I go off writing ridiculously complicated explanations about the gouge that even I get confused while reading!

There are three major learning styles: Auditory, Visual, and Kinaesthetic. I am by far a Kinaesthetic learner. Thus, I would be completely lost if I was trying to learn about gouging from my posts.

Geez, maybe it’s harder to explain than I thought…

Wednesday August 01 2007

Proofreading my previous post, I realized it was only five posts ago I wrote—

“I think a lot of oboe players are afraid of the gouge, or think it’s some mysterious secret only revealed to the holy and sacred.”

— and then I go off writing ridiculously complicated explanations about the gouge that even I get confused while reading!

There are three major learning styles: Auditory, Visual, and Kinaesthetic. I am by far a Kinaesthetic learner. Thus, I would be completely lost if I was trying to learn about gouging from my posts.

Geez, maybe it’s harder to explain than I thought…

Wednesday August 01 2007

Proofreading my previous post, I realized it was only five posts ago I wrote—

“I think a lot of oboe players are afraid of the gouge, or think it’s some mysterious secret only revealed to the holy and sacred.”

— and then I go off writing ridiculously complicated explanations about the gouge that even I get confused while reading!

There are three major learning styles: Auditory, Visual, and Kinaesthetic. I am by far a Kinaesthetic learner. Thus, I would be completely lost if I was trying to learn about gouging from my posts.

Still trying to clarify overlap

Wednesday August 01 2007

A reader writes:

I still don’t get what you mean by “set” the overlap. I set my overlap when I tie, by folding the cane onto the staple with a slight overlap. Then (the abbreviated version), I scrape some, clip the tip, and scrape some more.How do you “set” the overlap once you’ve already tied, and what makes the click sound? Is it grabing the two blades with one hand×with the tip facing you, left thumb on bottom, left first finger on top and a sliding motion?

• “I set my overlap when I tie.”×I also tie so that my top blade is slide over to the right. But this isn’t setting the overlap.
• “How do you “set” the overlap once you’ve already tied”×Yes, I slide the blades apart (although I guess I’d put my right index on bottom and right thumb on top). Not a lot, just enough to click.
• “What makes the click sound? Is it grabbing the two blades in one hand?”×I’m not sure your question. What about the gouge makes the click sound or something I do with my fingers? The click sound comes from the internal shape of the blade curvature and how it gouges out and shapes the inside of the cane.

Now, what does the click say about the gouge? (or how does it function?) The overlap ensures that the side of the reed is set into the other blade’s gouged surface. The “Click” ensures that the entire side of the blade (not just a small part of it) is set. Sometimes when I tie I get most of the reed overlapped, but particularly up by the tip it doesn’t completely overlap. Most often, my click comes from the middle of the reed, up to the tip clicking into place. The lower part of the reed is already overlapped by the tie.

This tool is going to be one of your most valuable measuring instruments in your box. It includes a radius gage that is viewed from the top so youcan use a light source behind it very easily. it also includes a width gauge to check that your cane is planed to the correct widge to be used with the Opus 1 gouger. 8mm is the recommended maximum cane width.

- Robin Driscoll’s Website.

Some have also been asking me what about the gouge encourages the overlap to click into place? It’s difficult to describe since one can never describe a gouging blade curve perfectly. Even specific figures do not explain the rate of taper and what happens in between the locations of measurements of those numbers. But in general, I find that having the correct rate of taper on the side is critical to getting a decent overlap click. For example, I have a radius measurement point locator little thingy that you can buy from Mr. Driscoll over at Opus 1 Gougers (go under recommended tools). Although it does not tell me everything about the rate of taper of the gouge, it is a tool that allows me to mark locations so that I can measure the thickness of different points of my gouge with a dial indicator. For example, I know figures on my graf blade need to fall around (.62, .58, .52, .43). For these figures, the first measurement is the very center, and the following measurements are measured at 1mm out from the center consecutively. (Although I warn you, these numbers are very “loose”. For example, the first ratio of .62-.58 is equally affected by the width of much internal spine which is built in from a double radius gouge. If the internal spine is too wide, you will have a dull sounding reed with inflexibility in pitch.)

Where is all this leading me to? Back to the click, of course! I find that a good click often depends on if the rate of taper on the sides tapers fast enough. For example. If the last measurements are .52 and .48, it often doesn’t want to click audibly for me (although this isn’t always the case.) Similarly, if the last points measured at .46 and .43, I wouldn’t expect a “click” either.

Read the Rest

Philly Style EH Horn Reeds.

Wednesday August 01 2007

On the oboe Bboard, a regular reader asked:

I just made my first two English Horn Reeds—Basically, I followed the instructions in the Weber/Capps manual/video. Their advice is to use the same basic Philly structure as for oboe reeds, but with the narrow waist of the hourglass closer to the base of the reed (thread/wire) and with less exaggerated transitions to the heart and less thinning of the tip, in other words a much more uniform scrape but still Philly style. At the same time, I bought 4 reeds from 2 makers—one of them i would say makes a V-shaped tip and the rest of the reed is scraped uniformly but still fairly opaque to the back light, but with a slightly visible spine—but no heart to speak of. The other is the same but it looks like some attempt is made to scrape barely discernible windows into the otherwise uniform back in the same place you would normally find windows on an oboe reed. I’ve concluded that EH reeds are MUCH… more forgiving than oboe reeds..you can get a decent sound just by thinning the back and putting a tip on the thing, not nearly as much futzing—beyond that I’m sure there are many nuances.

But my question is—.is there really such a thing as a Philly style EH reed with deep windows and a protruding heart? And what do the really good EH players do?

I responded with this:

Well, have been looking for my “reed reference storage case” for the last several days and have come up short. But let me state what I do remember.

Mr. Weber made a special EH reed for me (he doesn’t sell ones he makes, but made it for me to reference from). Just as his book states, it looks exactly like one of his oboe reeds, but on a bigger scale. No, he doesn’t take as much out of the back, (the thickest place in the heart on his oboe reeds is probably around .45, while the thinnest place in the windows of his oboe reeds is around .29), the difference is quite noticeable, and does produce the regular curvy side profile that is displayed in his book to describe oboe reeds. So in this regard, I suppose it would still be considered a “Philly style” EH reed.

After searching in all of my reeds, I finally found the one I was looking for.

The reed on the right is one I scraped. The reed on the left is from Mr. Weber.

Final Note: Measuring the thickness of Mr. Weber’s reed, the thickest place of the spine (the back of the heart) measures at .52. The thickest place of the heart which is half-way between the spine and the rail on all sides measures .47. The thinnest place of the windows (right behind the heart) measures .31. So I guess he does take just as much out of the back! But leaves more on the spine/heart. I know that if he was using a wider shape, he most certainly wouldn’t be able to take that much out, but he uses a narrower shape, which is a copy of Rosenblatt’s. Mr. Weber further stated that Carlos Coehlo’s shaper tip is also a copy of Rosenblatt’s but a bit narrower.

I’m going to copy Mr. Weber’s Rosenblatt tip in about a month. He’s going to teach me how to make shaper tips. Anyone interested in buying one?