REED ADJUSTMENT GUIDE
The following was written by Martin Schuring, Associate Professor of Music (Oboe) at Arizona State University. If you are interested in reading about oboe topics in greater detail, you will be interested to know that this article, also available to the public on the web, is included in his book “Oboe, Art and Method”, published by Oxford University Press. This is an excellent publication for all levels of oboe experience.
The performance of a reed can be described using four basic criteria: response, resistance, tone quality, and stability – the following suggestions are for reeds made with the standard American long scrape.
- Response: This refers to the reed's ability to speak freely at all dynamic levels. It should speak easily at the softest possible dynamic while maintaining a true sound, and it should speak cleanly at a loud dynamic without splattering or spreading. These characteristics should be consistent in all registers.
- Resistance: Resistance describes how much air the reed will accept and how readily it accepts it. It should be possible to play your full dynamic range with very little embouchure intervention except at the softest dynamics. No-one can maintain good control and endurance on a reed that requires constant embouchure action. A reed that is too easy (resistance too low) is as tiring as a reed that is too hard (resistance too high). Although the embouchure is very free on a too-easy reed, the tendency to search for more tone and overblow can cause fatigue very quickly.
Here's a good test to determine the reed's overall resistance level. First confirm that the reed opening is correct. Then, with the reed in the oboe, blow gently through it with a neutral embouchure. Don't try to influence the tone in any way. Gradually increase the air pressure until the reed speaks by itself. The resulting dynamic should be mezzo-piano or very close to it. If it is too loud, the reed will be too hard to play easily; if it is too soft, the reed will feel "limited" and not project well. It is essential for the reed's resistance to correctly match the player's physical capacity. Any deviation will result in uncomfortable playing and rapid fatigue.
In addition, we can describe another aspect of resistance - hardness - that refers to the amount of embouchure tension (preferably minimal) needed to keep the reed behaving. Before making a judgment about the reed's hardness (and possibly ruining it), always confirm that the opening is not too large. Squeeze the opening to a comfortable size and try the reed again. - Tone Quality: The actual timbre of the sound is a personal matter, and not important here. It is important to get a good balance between low and high partials, allowing the sound to be as complex and rich as possible. A reed that has only the lower partials will sound dull, lack brilliance, and will not project. Do not confuse this with making a dark sound. A reed that has only the higher partials will sound shrill and thin.
- Stability: Refers both to the reed's overall pitch tendency as well as its ability to maintain that pitch. Reeds can manifest a confusing variety of combinations: flat and stable, flat and wild, sharp and wild, sharp and dull, etc. Some of these have no ready solution. Ideally, the reed should play in tune and hold its pitch at any dynamic, at any level of air pressure, and with any reasonable variation of embouchure tension or reed placement in the mouth.
Remember that anything you do to a reed affects all four of the above considerations. You will seldom cure one problem without creating another. Success in the diagnostic process consists of finding the solution that removes the most problems and creates the fewest new ones. Even inexperienced reedmakers can usually get the intended result from a scraping operation; the skill lies in anticipating the unintended results. Think before you scrape! Keep notes if necessary.
However, the best reed-making is purely intuitive - you just know what to do. This knowledge is the result of experience, so don't be afraid to experiment occasionally - even recklessly - to see what happens. You may learn something.
Three Golden Rules of Reed Making
1. Sharpen your knife.
2. Don't make any mistakes.
3. Adjust the function of the reed, not the tone.
Common actions and their effects...
- Scraping the whole surface of the tip thinner.
- Easier response
- Lower resistance
- Brighter, somewhat shallower, sound
- Slightly flatter pitch and decreased stability
If the reed is nearly finished, scraping the whole tip is seldom a good idea. It tends to make the reed chirpy and shrill because it emphasizes the tip vibrations too much. In this case, it's usually better to try to get more vibrations some other way - scraping the heart a bit, for instance - and then finishing just the sides and corners of the tip. Scraping the tip makes the tip vibrate better; it doesn't necessarily make the reed vibrate better.
- Easier response
- Scraping just the extremities of the tip (sides and corners - "finishing the tip").
- Somewhat easier response
- Somewhat lower resistance
- More focused, refined sound
- Minimal effect on pitch and stability
If done carefully, finishing the tip can actually improve stability without affecting the pitch. Often, finishing the tip will unify all the elements of the reed after everything else looks all right. It should be among the last things you do to a reed and always with a very sharp knife.
- Somewhat easier response
- Clipping the tip.
- Harder response
- Higher resistance
- Duller, shallower, less vibrant sound
- Sharper pitch and improved stability
Before clipping the tip, be sure it really needs clipping. The reed should feel a little loose and play a little flat. Clip to improve the function of the reed, not the tone. Clipping a bright, sharp reed that doesn't vibrate well to make it sound darker won't help it a bit. Always clip off the tiniest possible amount; it's better to clip a reed three times to get what you want than to clip it too much once.
- Harder response
- Scraping the heart (not the center!).
- Somewhat easier response
- Lower resistance
- Brighter, more raucous and vibrant, sound
- Flatter pitch and decreased stability
This is often the cure for a stodgy, wooden reed that refuses to vibrate. Try to stay away from the center of the heart unless the reed just doesn't vibrate at all. The heart acts like a valve between the tip and the back. If it's too thick, the tip vibrations will not continue, and the reed will feel stuffy and resistant. If it's too thin, the reed becomes loose and noisy - as though the tip were much too long.
- Somewhat easier response
- Scraping the back (top half)
- Slightly more sluggish response
- Slightly lower resistance
- Warmer, less brilliant sound
- Flatter pitch and decreased stability
After the first roughing-out stages, wood should mostly be removed from the top of the back, blending as you get closer to the string. Making the whole back thin weakens the reed too much. Be sure, also, to leave a visible spine down the center and rails along each side to provide structure. Avoid having too much of a hump between the top of the back and the heart - blend it smoothly.
- Slightly more sluggish response
POSSIBLE CURES FOR COMMON PROBLEMS
Reed too flat.
There are several things that can cause this problem: the opening is too big, the reed is well-made but too large, the overlap is too slight, or too much wood has been removed from the reed. It can also be a combination of these factors.
If the opening seems too large, always take care of that first. Soak the reed well and, with the plaque inserted, squeeze just behind the tip gently, holding the reed between your thumb and index finger. Once you're pretty sure it won't crack, squeeze harder. Then, gradually squeeze a little closer to the string. Finally, squeeze as hard and as close to the string as you dare. Twist the tube back and forth a little to weaken the reed further. If it cracks now, don't worry too much; it would have cracked sooner or later anyway. Better now than during a concert. This is the only effective way to make the opening smaller. Weakening the reed by scraping is not effective. The next time you soak the reed, the opening will probably be too large again. Repeat the squeezing procedure, and after a few days it should settle down.
If the reed seems to play well but just a bit flat, it probably needs to have the tip clipped. Be careful to clip only the tiniest amount at a time and try the reed after each clip. You can raise the pitch slightly by increasing the amount that the blades overlap. Gently slip the blades a little apart. Note that this will also make the tone less vibrant.
If the reed is flat because too much wood has been removed, it may be difficult to remake. Usually, this happens if the back or the heart (or both) have been scraped too thin. Try clipping it a little. Chances are the pitch will improve but the sound will not. Be prepared to give up and make a new reed without making the same mistakes.
The general order of operation in the case of a flat, but otherwise well-made, reed is to clip it until it crows "C", then loosen it up if necessary, clip again if necessary, etc. The closer you get to an acceptable result the smaller the adjustments should be. Try the reed after every (tiny) clip and after every (minimal) scraping procedure. As a rule of thumb, do not let the crow drop lower than "B" while finishing the reed. Then, you will always be able to restore the pitch by clipping.
Reed too sharp
Sharpness can be due to the opening being too small, the reed being too short, too great an overlap, or too much wood being left on the reed. Sharpness is much less common than flatness.
If the opening is too small, there is usually no remedy. Try soaking the reed for a good long time (15-20 minutes) and see if it improves. Squeezing it gently open with you fingers is a temporary solution. Some people recommend changing the shape of the tube with pliers to adjust the opening, but this distorts the reed and ruins the tube. If you get consistently small openings, try using cane with a smaller diameter, and/or a wider shaper tip, and/or tying the reeds on a little longer (but keeping the same finished length). Also, make sure that the cane you use has good resilience. It it's mushy and collapses easily, no amount of correction will help much.
If the reed is clipped too short, it's probably hopeless. Often this is the result of carelessly clipping too much and then scraping too much, clipping, scraping, etc. Be more careful.
The overlap can be reduced by slipping the blades more nearly on top of each other. This will also make the tone more resonant, but is at best a temporary solution - the blades will slide back to their original position after a while.
If the reed is sharp because it's still too thick, scrape more off. The reed is probably not well balanced in this case, and where to remove wood should be visibly obvious.
Reed won't vibrate
First, determine whether the sound of the reed is dull and wooden or whether it's thin and shrill.
If it's dull and wooden, removing wood from the heart usually fixes the problem. In extreme cases, you can even take wood from the center of the heart. Note that this will make the reed flatter. If the reed is dull and wooden and flat, it probably won't ever work.
If it's shrill, take more wood from the back. Continue scraping until the sound gets a little better, then balance the rest of the reed to what you've done. This will also make it flatter, but most shrill reeds are sharp so you're OK. Note that reeds that tend towards shrillness rarely turn out well.
Reed vibrates too much (raucous)
This is often a good thing in the early stages, particularly with English horn reeds. Usually, the reed is well-balanced but just not finished. If this is the case, scrape equally from the tip, the heart, and the top of the back and try it again. Sometimes, raucousness in a nearly finished reed is the result of the opening being too large. If that's the case, squeeze it down before doing anything else. Usually, the reed will play completely differently with the correct opening.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
- Sharpen your knife. This seems obvious but is often ignored anyway. Make sure it's really sharp before going anywhere near a reed. Spend ten minutes sharpening if necessary. Sharpen it five or ten times per reed. This cannot be emphasized enough! If you can't get your knife sharp, you might need a new one, or you might need to restore the edge using a coarser stone. A knife more than a year old is seldom much use unless it was extremely high quality to begin with and has been very carefully sharpened. Consider having one knife that you use only for the most delicate work. (This is not to say that the rough work should be done with a lousy knife! You need a good edge always.)
- Never deliberately remove wood from the center of the reed. Enough comes off anyway.
- When in doubt, adjust the function of the reed, not the sound. The basic sound quality of a given piece of cane can only be adjusted within limits. It is not possible make a shrieking reed sound dull, nor is it possible to make a dead reed sound brilliant. It is possible, though, to make these reeds function correctly so that you can play with ease and comfort. You will always sound better on a reed that feels comfortable to you - you will be able to play in tune, with reliable response and without fatigue. Deficiencies in these areas are obvious to any listener - far more than delicate nuances of oboe tone.
- Make the extreme tip (corners and sides) as thin as you can. Measurements show that many reeds have tips that are .01mm thick (that's .00039 in. - 4/10,000). Sharpen your knife.
- Before doing anything, verify that the opening is the correct size. A too-large opening will completely distort a reed's performance.
- Think. Everything you do to a reed is a compromise.
- Unless you're completely sure of what you're doing, consider all of the effects of what you're doing on the four basic criteria of reed performance: response, resistance, tone quality and stability. A scraping operation will almost always give you the intended result, but it may also give a variety of unintended results which you must anticipate. Try to find the solution that solves the most problems and creates the fewest new ones.
- Try the reed after each operation. Don't decide you need to scrape the back, finish the tip and then clip it. Results are sometimes unpredictable. Do one thing at a time, and always try the reed.
- Learn to clip the tiniest amounts from the tip possible. If you can hardly see the remains on the block, it's about right.
- Consistency is more valuable than frequent experimentation. Try to find something that works and stick to it. The more consistent the process, the more consistent the result. Don't keep changing shaper tips, cane suppliers, staples, gouge dimensions, etc. Only a true expert (there aren't many) will be able to make sense of the various variables. Chances are, if your reeds don't play with shaper tip "A", they won't play with shaper tip "B", either.
- Consider the effects of tying the reed on at different lengths (while maintaining the same finished length). While it's best to keep the length fairly consistent, this presumes that you're using the same cane, shape, and type of tube for each reed. Tying the reed on shorter gives a smaller opening and a wider "throat" (the area where the reed meets the string). Tying the reed on longer has the opposite effect. Ideally, the sides should close with the string still one wind below the top of the tube. Tying on too long will cause the reed to leak; too short and the sides crush together causing the tip to spread apart.
- Make sure the overlap is correct. The blade facing you should be slightly to the right of the blade behind. That way the tension of the string wrapping pulls the two blades tightly together. Don't overlap too much - the resonance chamber is reduced too greatly. When tying on, I try to make sure that the overlap isn't going the wrong way more than I try to make it go the right way. If you tie left-handed (i.e. with the mandrel in your right hand, and the string in the left), the overlap should be reversed (the front blade slightly to the left of the rear).
- The sides of the reed should hold tightly together all the way to the tip. If the sides are "loose" at all, the reed will almost never work well. This problem is usually caused by warped cane, careless shaping, or careless wrapping and cannot be solved by scraping. Be very careful with every step of the process, rejecting even slightly warped or twisted cane. Gouge carefully and measure each piece of gouged cane. Shape accurately with a sharp tool. Tie correctly onto the tube with the correct tie length. If you changed staple brands recently, change back.
Observe everything. Successful reedmaking is nothing more than an accumulation of experience and the elimination of error. This includes not only obvious errors like tearing off bits of tip and tying past the end of the tube, but also cane selection, careful gouging, shaping, tying-on, scraping, etc. Learn which types of cane work best for you. Which shapes, which tubes, which knives, etc. If you find something that works, stick to it. Most of all, think while you make reeds. Observe everything. You may ruin the reed you're working on, but make sure you learn something from the experience.