New friends on the back row of orchestras sometimes ask me who makes the reeds bound in blue that I use. Their reaction when I own up to making them myself is often a mixture of embarrassment and awe. Yes, I suppose I do spend hours fiddling with reeds, and it may seem rather a waste of time, but there are two reasons why I no longer buy ready-made ones. One is historical: when old Herr Windler died about 25 years ago, my main source of reeds had to change, and ever since then I have just simply not been able to find a supplier of reeds that I am satisfied with. I have spent a fortune on reeds which turned out to be useless. Indeed, “reed crises” were a regular feature of my own playing until about 2 or 3 years ago, when I finally felt satisfied with the reed-making which I had been toying with all these years.The other reason is that making reeds is a remarkably relaxing and therapeutic activity. To spend 20 minutes, once in a while, folding, wiring up and forming a reed at the end of a hard day at school (I teach Physics) is wonderfully creative. And just think what a beautiful sound this promising reed might make when it is finished. Or binding a reed and taking the tip off so that it looks like a reed, or scraping the reed down to the right dimensions. Reed cane is a fascinating material to work with – so hard in the bark, so soft in the body of the reed, and yet so strong that it can withstand being “crowed” at maximum volume when it is only 2 or 3 thou (about 0.05 mm) thick!
Now, I am no expert, and all I know about reed-making is the titbits I have picked up from books, articles on the internet, my teachers of years ago, useful BDRS (www.bdrs.org.uk) Convention workshops with David Lock and Dominic Weir, some kindly encouragement from Lawrence Perkins at a Dartington Summer School (www.dartingtonsummerschool.org.uk) several years ago, conversations with sympathetic fellow bassoonists, and years and years of “try it and see”. I have probably “reinvented the wheel” many times over, and my “wheels” are probably not as “round” or “free-running” as they could be, but I do find now that the reeds I make work and some of them - in my amateur opinion - make a good sound!
So I thought I would write down how I go about making a reed. Perhaps it might help someone else, and maybe others might give me some feedback of ideas on how to improve. Here goes.
Buying cane
A real reed-maker would buy the cane as tubes, of course, and then do his or her own processing of it from there. Perhaps one day……. I, however, buy cane from Georg Rieger (www.georgrieger.com) already gouged, profiled and shaped, with a number 1 tip and a length of 118 mm. At the moment (April 2007) it costs just over 2 euro plus tax for each piece (plus p & p), and I usually buy about 20 pieces at a time. Recently I've been buying the cane ready scored, as it costs very little extra and is one less thing to do when making the reed. I haven’t found that the tip shape is all that critical, and the shorter length does mean there is less to cut off after folding. As you will see from the dimensions I use, my reeds are very short, compared to others. This is because my instrument (a Puchner) will not work with anything longer. Longer reeds cause the C sharp and E below middle C to droop when blown hard - useless!
Cane as it arrives from Rieger
Preparing the cane
I use fine sandpaper to sand down and polish the inside of the cane. This will be almost the last opportunity to get at the inside of the cane, and maybe a smooth surface will produce a smooth sound? Who knows? I then use a modelling knife and sand paper to bevel the edges of the cane beneath the sections with bark on. This should help to form a good seal when the tube is formed. How much to bevel is always an unknown quantity. I aim for a rounded edge so that the final seal is air-tight, but also so that the reed can easily be adjusted by squeezing the wires later on.
So now I am ready to soak the cane for about a minute to prevent the cane from cracking uncontrollably later on.
Forming the reed
If the cane is not already scored, the first task is to score the bark of the soaked cane so that it will form the tube easily. I use an old broom handle cut to an appropriate length and a thick elastic band to help hold the cane securely, and then using a thin modelling knife, I cut through the bark in about 6 parallel lines (about 1 mm apart) along the length of the bark at each end. Trying to get these lines even and straight is worth the effort, as otherwise cracks may spread into the tip when the tube is formed. Sometimes I push too hard and the knife goes right through the cane, but this really does not matter all that much, as the wires (and glue) will hold everything together afterwards. I also often used to put a V-shaped nick on the two sides of the centre of the cane to help guide the folding process. Again, this was probably not essential, and I don't bother now.
Cane scored at one end with V-shaped nicks to aid folding
Alarming though the next two stages feel, they are really nothing to worry about, as most mistakes can be rectified one way or another! The cane is folded over at the centre. I try to get the two sides to sit exactly symmetrical and then press down firmly on the fold to ensure this is the final position of the reed. Three pieces of wire about 7 cm long are wrapped around the tube roughly in the positions indicated in the diagram and are twisted together tightly. I try to ensure each wire is wrapped and twisted the same way, although the twisting of the middle wire is done on the opposite side of the reed from the others. How necessary all this is, I don’t know. The important thing is to tighten the wires effectively and smoothly around the reed. Otherwise cracks may appear. Also you need to avoid deforming the symmetry of the two halves of the reed. Practice makes perfect!
I soak the reed for another minute or two and then use pliers to squeeze the wires until the circular tube is formed. I like to start at the end furthest from the tip, squeeze a little, move to the second wire, squeeze that, and then the third wire…; turn the reed over, and work back to the end furthest from the tip. It is a delicate and gradual process, but I am aiming to produce a circle in the two wires furthest from the tip, and slightly more of a horizontal oval shape in the other wire, without cracking the reed tip. If this last wire is too far from being circular, however, the final reed tends to be too resistant and "hard work" to play. It is worth keeping an eye on the symmetry of the reed too. An extra squeeze here or there might help. When the opening is big enough, the mandrel can be gently pushed in and the pliers can help to form the desired shape (both on the wires and directly on the cane) around the mandrel. David Lock helpfully calls the process of pressing the end of the tube all round onto the mandrel “mashing”. It aptly describes the careless mess one makes of the outside of the tube, so that the inside is properly circular. Mind you, he does all the initial tube-forming in one quick, deft shove of the mandrel, and this alarming process somehow seems to work for him!
Drying board with lots of "retired" reeds, two newly-folded reeds, and just two spaces
So now, hopefully, I have the beginnings of a reed, and it can be left to dry out, e.g. on a board with nail heads sticking out. If you hold the drying reed close to your ear after an hour or two, you can actually hear it drying out; it sounds as if it is splitting into a thousand pieces! After 48 hours the wires will need tightening carefully (with the mandrel in.) It is worth waiting for the reed to dry out really thoroughly, as I do not want the tube to shrink much after binding. Otherwise I would have to undo the binding to tighten the wire underneath, and redo the binding. A nuisance! By the way, if there are some small cracks extending into the tip, my experience is that the reed still often works perfectly well. Indeed, once the reed has been dried and scraped, many cracks seem to disappear altogether.
Binding the reed and removing the tipThe purpose of binding, it seems to me, is primarily to make it more rigid and stable, and also to give one something to hold onto when attaching it to the crook. Fancy looks are an additional consideration, but I have not so far bothered to match the beautiful multi-coloured creations of some music college students I have met. So I prefer to use crochet thread, rather than a shrink-wrapped plastic tube for binding, as it can be pulled really tightly and firmly onto the reed. First the wire twists need to be cut off to a reasonable length: about 2-3 mm for the two nearest the tip, and about 1mm for the other one. The reed should be placed on the mandrel tightly, so that it will not slip. I tie some thread onto the wire twist furthest from the tip, flatten the twist against the tube, and cut off the excess thread. The tube surfaces between the back of the reed and the second wire, and especially the join between the two halves of the cane, are covered in balsa cement. Wearing a leather glove to prevent cutting grooves in my hand, I wrap the thread round and round, keeping it tight at all times. I am sure the actual shape of the binding is unimportant, provided it cannot slip and is eventually comfortable to hold, but I do it as shown in the pictures. Once finished (up to the second wire) the thread can be secured by flattening the second wire twist on top of it, and the rest of the thread can be cut off.
Binding a reed: before...
...and after
To improve the tightness (and yes, okay, the looks, because it makes the binding look shiny) I use a small paint brush to cover the binding in cellulose dope. When this dries, it tightens the thread even more around the reed. The brush can be cleaned in a small bottle of cellulose thinner afterwards. Once again the reed is left to dry on the nail board. Once dry (otherwise water and wet cellulose dope make a disgusting mess) the reed tip is soaked for an hour or so, and the tip is cut off to the right length. I use a tip cutter bought from Howarth’s, as the wire cutters I used to use were so difficult to hold straight. Somehow, however hard I tried, the tips of my reeds always seemed to be crooked!
Scraping the reed Scraping a reed tip using a knife and a plaque
It is a cause of constant frustration to me that, despite selling cane as “profiled”, Rieger (and other cane suppliers) leave the tips so thick. By the time I have cut off the end of a reed, the thickness at the tip is about 0.65 mm, which, surely, is far thicker than anyone can possibly want! I suppose they want us to buy their reed profilers, but at £600-£900 each this is more of an investment than I, for one, am prepared to make at the moment. So there is nothing for it, but to get the reed knife out and start scraping. A lot of cane is going to need to be removed near the tip. Actually, if the knife is sharp, it doesn’t take too long to get the reed to the required dimensions. A plaque in the tip and the mandrel firmly in the other end make for a secure mounting arrangement while scraping, and they ensure the reed stays undamaged in the scraping process. I have found a micrometer gauge absolutely essential for getting the dimensions right. The mounting for mine was kindly made for me by a technician at a school where I used to teach, but I know that Howarth’s also sell them. Trying to scrape a reed “blind” is rather a “hit and miss” affair, and I now always use the micrometer and the dimensions shown in the diagram at least as a starting point.
Micrometer gauge (calibrated in thou's - old-fashioned!)
By way of illustration, however, one event which really boosted my confidence in reed-making without a micrometer occurred a couple of years ago. It was at the final rehearsal for a concert including Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony. I had a good soft reed lined up for the opening solo, and half way through the rehearsal the reed suddenly split right down the middle (too much fiddling!) I told myself I wasn’t going to panic, and I spent an hour between the rehearsal and the concert scraping a new reed: scrape, soak, blow, scrape, soak, blow, scrape, soak,….. The rest of the orchestra kept well away from this awful noise, but by the end I had an excellent reed (better than the previous one), which worked wonders in the concert. The next day it would not work at all, no matter how I adjusted it, where I scraped it, or what I did with it. It had fully expended itself in that one concert!
Final adjustmentsAs a consequence of this cautionary tale, I suppose, I like to do final adjustments at least a day after finishing the previous stages, so as to give the reed time to settle into its own “natural” shape. Hopefully, the reed now has a nice “tongue”, visible when held up to the light, a really thin tip (even in the middle), and a good smooth profile down to the tip when viewed side-on against a dark background. Squeezing the second wire vertically (and compensating for the widened tip by squeezing the first wire horizontally) tends to make the reed easier to blow and sound less stuffy. On the other hand, doing this too much can make the sound very edgy and buzzy. A compromise has to be found. If the reed is still too heavy to blow easily, more cane has to be removed. This often also happens after playing the reed for a while. Adjustments are, of course, just part of a bassoonist’s normal operating procedure! If the dimensions were correct initially, I tend just to scrape evenly all over the tips. I have yet to prove it, but my hunch is that the thickness of cane gradually increases with time as it absorbs water, especially recently scraped cane. It is no surprise, therefore, that to keep the dimensions right one is constantly having to remove more cane.
I have heard it said and I have read it a several places, that there is such a thing as a “correct technique” for scraping reeds. This has to be the wrong attitude, surely. A technique is “correct” if it makes a reed that works. Okay, it may not be the most efficient method (or I suppose you may be in danger of chopping your finger off), but I am a great believer in just “having a go” (albeit carefully), and not being frightened off by moral ideas of “doing it wrong”. End of tirade.
Some useful tools (left to right): reed knife, mandrel, reed wire, modelling knife, wire cutters (previously used as tip cutters), reamer, balsa cement, cellulose dope, pliers, cellulose thinner, blue crochet thread, broom handle (adapted), tip cutter, 35mm film container soaking a reed
Other adjustments include reaming out the reed so that it fits on the crook. Maybe my reamer is rather blunt, but I often find myself using a round file for this, if I need to enlarge the hole substantially. If the reed leaks when on the crook (blocking the wide end of the crook and the whisper key hole with one’s fingers, blowing or sucking on the reed, and listening), I apply some wax using the mandrel heated over a stove. This fills in most cracks and holes, and, if necessary, more reaming can remove any excess wax that gets where it is not wanted.
On my bassoon I find that some reeds “droop” on middle E and C#, i.e. the pitch goes flat, especially on an accentuated attack of the note. Sometimes the problem just goes away of its own accord after playing on it for a while. “Lipping up” can often help. If not, the next remedy I try is to squeeze the middle wire horizontally (and compensate by squeezing the first wire vertically). If that does not work, or if it makes the reed too heavy or stuffy, the next line of defence is to shorten the reed very slightly. This is a bit drastic, as it means you then have to re-scrape the tip down to the correct dimensions, and I sometimes find that the trouble then just recurs. I suspect the problem is often due to scraping the reed too thinly (or perhaps asymmetrically?) somewhere. However, the length of the reed is quite critical, and occasionally shortening it is just the ticket. If not, one needs detachment and objectivity: throw it away, or at least consider early retirement for it! At present I eventually use only about one in two or three reeds. The rest…. ah well, I try not to think about them too much.
Philip Le Bas 8/4/05plebas@dsl.pipex.com
Update (13/5/05):
Having (above) derided the idea of any method of binding reeds other than with thread, I've now changed my mind about it! It seems that I have been binding my reeds tighter and tighter over the years, and this has been distorting them. In particular the cylindrical bore becomes too narrow, and I have a suspicion that over-tight binding makes the whole reed unstable and unpredictable when adjusting it. So I now use electricians' heat shrink tubing. The tubing I use came from Maplin Electronics (www.maplin.co.uk) with an internal diameter of 10 mm, and - unfortunately - a rather boring black colour. When you hold it above a candle flame (careful it doesn't catch fire!), it shrinks to half the diameter, and makes quite a good seal all round. I haven't had any problems so far with leakage or subsequent shrinkage of the reed, and it is certainly much less hastle than winding thread and applying cellulose dope.
Shrink-wrapped reeds and thread-bound reeds, alongside some heat shrink tubing ready for shrinking
e-Bay
