It is fixed!!!!
Tuesday August 05 2008
I spent about 8 hours today tinkering with my Graf gouging machine. I shifted the sides thicker, and I got the opening bigger but I lost resonance (it got thuddy, and too covered.) I’d thin the sides to gain more resonance and I would end up making the sides too thin, so that I wouldn’t be able to get enough “beef” in the reed.
So— I’d regrind the blade to a different curve, and I’d start over.
I’m starting to get an idea as to how the blade curve needs to be for the reed to be resonant and open, but have enough depth in the sound. At first it was simply hit or miss; it worked well or it didn’t, in which case I’d end up just blindly grinding the blade. But now it’s beginning to become clearer.
When I visited Laila Storch up in Seattle, we had a discussion about grinding blades and guides and what-not and she bemoaned that it seems to be a lost art nowadays. As she put it, it seems as though people just want to stick their piece of cane in the machine, crank it out, tie it on and scrape it into something that plays. Even Mr. Mack was using a Innoledy machine toward the very end of his life, a machine of which I’ve heard virtually everyone I’ve ever speak to say that it produces “good reeds” but not “great reeds”. Perhaps Mr. Mack finally got fed up grinding blades and what-not. Granted, it’s not for everyone, but certainly should be something that us as oboists (and particularly us who gouge our own cane) should not be afraid to tinker with. After all, Tabuteau came over with french-style gouging machines, which gouged cane for short scrape reeds. (In case you’ve never made a short scrape reed, the sides are MUCH… thinner, the shape is generally wider, and the piece of cane itself in the middle is a bit thinner to get enough vibration without having to take too much off.) Just think of how much tinkering and work he had to put into in order to get something that would work for a long-scraped reed!
Well, I’ve finally fixed it now, and am satisfied with the results. Mr. Weber is curious as to what I set my gouge to so I’ll probably be sending out a few pieces to him soon to double check. What a patient friend he is—
