Mediocre results for Jillian
Sunday September 02 2007
I am hesitant about making reeds commercially, and the reasons are obvious.
I don’t doubt my ability, and I know I can always make a good reed for an oboe if I have it in hand. This means, I can always make a good reed for someone if I am in the same location/climate, and know the instrument. That’s why my time with Patty was so rewarding; I could finally try out her two marigauxs, and see how different reeds responded in mine compared to hers. In fact, she needs reeds with a bit more “noise” in them than mine, which is a bit more finicky. This is an all-too-typical difference between marigaux and loree, but until I have it in hand, you never know just how much difference there is.
I received a reed report from Jillian Camwell of my 20 student reeds and 5 “pro” reeds from her. It went something like this:
Great: 1 (I would consider keeping for myself!)Good: 6 (sometimes needed a clip to bring down in pitch, but they were all easy to play with good tone over the range, no leaks)
OK: 6 (What you typically find in music stores, not consistent pitch, not great tone, but all easy to play and few leaks)
Need fixing up: 7 (Most have leaks so will need wrapping, some much too hard for students to play, all are out of tune, sharp or flat)
Now, granted, there were some extreme circumstances i.e. trying to make 25 reeds during an international move (Korea to USA…). But what really puts a red flag out there for me is the report of LEAKS…!!!
When someone writes to me and says “They leak.” I say. “HUH…???” Not that I don’t believe them. I DO. But I keep all my reeds over a period of 2 or 3 days to make sure that they settle down and specifically DON…’T leak. So if they’re leaking over there, but not over here, something is happening.
- The blades could be slipping and begin to leak. Does the oboist check if the blades are slipping, and push them back together? I regularly do this on my reeds if the blades slip, and expect the oboist to try the same.
- The soak time could be different. I usually soak like this: Dip in water, leave set out for 2 or 3 minutes (4 or 5 minutes in very dry areas), and then RE-DIP…, and let them really plump up. I prefer an oversoaked reed to a not-enough soaked reed, and count on a good soak to plump up the opening, and get the maximum vibration.
- Humidity rate could be too different. Different parts of the USA… have different humidity, and that’s normal. Not all reeds work well in the same humidity (not many do actually.) I find the wider the reed, the wider the humidity difference can be before it really effects it. But if there isn’t enough humidity, sometimes my reeds dry out too quickly, and thus, they aren’t fully soaked anymore!
When someone receives an order that they’re not satisfied, I feel AWFUL…. That’s good news for the reedmaker, but it’s a lot of personal stress on myself. My immediate response is “Oh my God!” followed by “QUICK…! MAKE… 10 REEDS… FOR… THEM… AND… SEND… THEM… OUT… AS REPLACEMENT… IMMEDIATELY…!”
Jillian’s reed order was an order for 5 pro reeds, and 20 student reeds. Therefore, I’m pleased that she received at least 7 that she thought were pretty good, enough for herself! There were supposed to be 20 student reeds which would qualify as just that; Student-level reeds. But I’m very surprised that she found them to be 1. inconsistent and 2. some leaked. In fact, I’m baffled by this. What could cause such a drastic change? I’m usually a very consistent reedmaker, and I never send out a reed that leaks. So I’m just not sure what happened somewhere between Oregon and Iowa.
Jillian gave me some good tips, but unfortunately they were tips I was already living by.
- “I think that (making consistent reeds) is the most important part of running a business.”×I agree, and I wouldn’t be in the reed business if I could only make 2 good reeds in a batch of 5. I’d say my ratio (for my preference) is 4/5, 1 reed taking me about 15-20 minutes each.
- “I would just recommend not sending out the reeds that you wouldn’t play on yourself.”×Well, I wouldn’t send out student reeds that I wouldn’t want my student playing on. And the same for pro reeds.
Final Note: I will be sending a couple more out to Jillian to make up for the pro reeds that were just “Good”. I want more GREAT…!
Jill Cathey
Sep 2, 2007
Hey Cooper - sounds like you are having all kinds of headaches these days! One option you might consider is selling reeds in a reletively localized area. (meaning Pacific NW, perhaps - although the difference between the wet side and the dry side is extreme) My collegue started selling reeds a few years ago, and he has stopped taking new orders, just old people. (hehehe) I think he has a few people he ships to, but mostly it is just around town. Also, another oboist from Oregon has been selling her reeds (which are great) for a short time, and I’m not sure what the exact status of her business is, but my last two students’ orders didn’t come for almost 2 months. This is with repeated calling to find out what the hold up was, after being told it would be one week in the beginning. She must be busy! So I would say you have a big enough market in the area.
Jillian Camwell
Sep 2, 2007
Oh goodness, I hope I haven’t caused you to panic! I do very much appreciate the attention you’ve given to this though. I enjoyed our conversation this morning. I think all of the student reeds that need fixing only require minimal tweaks. (Like I said, it’s just tough for students to buy reeds that need tweaking, because unless they have a teacher or even a little experience with adjusting reeds, they’ll be stuck.) I will let you know what I discover as soon as I get to the pile again!
(And I never said they were mediocre—ugh, I hate that word!)
It is strange about the leak thing. From what I’ve noticed while traveling back and forth to Oregon from Iowa, I haven’t had to make that many adjustments. Things will settle down with reedmaking, as you well know. No more hotel room, planes, trains or automobile reed orders for a while, eh? 
When I was auditioning for the Colorado Symphony though, I knew I’d be in trouble if I made reeds in Eugene. So I packed up my stuff and spent a couple of days in Bend, which at least brought me a bit closer to Denver altitude!
We’ll talk soon!
patty
Sep 3, 2007
Hmmm ... it couldn’t be that you exaggerate anything could it, Cooper? (I’ve read Jill’s comment.) Hmmm. Not that ANYONE else would EVER do that? For instance, I, being the World’s Worst Reed Maker ... I would never exaggerate anything. Not ever.
Anyhoo, I hope you are not laboring on Labor Day. 
(Moi? I have a student today. Go figure. But I also have those horribly difficult new works I showed you to work on. Once the Giants lose I’ll get to them.)
Sep 2, 2007
Hey Cooper ... I hope you aren’t too discouraged! I know that you know we all play somewhat differently, and reeds are so darn personal once we begin making our own!
One thought I had: when you check for leaks do you block the bottom and suck or do you block the bottom and blow through the reed? If you suck you could be creating a false seal, because you’ll be pulling in the sides. If you blow you are doing what we do when we play ... we don’t suck, we blow through the reeds. (Dan, of course, just said to me, “Well, some oboe players always suck!” Leave it to him ....)
I could be totally off-base here, so if I’m annoying just ignore me!
Of the reeds we worked on here, the one you rewrapped goes goofy if I play forté. One of the ones you made Sunday morning works, the other (which you said you didn’t care for) doesn’t. And the yellow one (Saturday again, I guess) needs some work now. It always seems to take a few days for a reed to decide what it wants to be, you know?
The great news is that I pulled out some reeds from my box of “what’s wrong with these?” and it was merely that I hadn’t finished them! So I’ve been rotating between three of those and the orange reed for Lucia. I’m so glad you showed me that my micrometer (is that what it’s called?!) worked and I simply wasn’t finishing reeds!
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