Oboe Reed Style

The reed scrape that I use for the oboe, oboe d’amore and English horn is best described as an American style and has a long “W” scrape with a strong line of bark along the center and sides of the blade,  ample heart and well defined windows, slight overlap (slip) of the blades to the right and a strength of medium to medium hard (examples below).  Helpful resources recommended on making reeds are "Oboe-Art & Method" by Martin Schuring, "The Oboe Reed Book" by Jay Light, "Making Oboe Reeds" by Joseph Shalita, and "The Art of Oboe Playing" by Robert Sprenkle and David Ledet.

It is a wise strategy to always have spares finished or partially finished blanks ready to scrape. If you are in a pinch for time to make reeds, have run out, need back-up reeds, etc. the reliable sources include: Myself for cane that is gouged-only, gouged & shaped, tied-only reeds (reed blanks) or  tied with a semi-finished scrape, Don Werdick-Superieure Cane Processing www.oboemn.com; for finished reeds I recommend The Colorado Reed Co. www.coloradoreedcompany.com and the Charles Double Reed Co. www.charlesmusic.com.