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Flat Oboe Reeds Are Instant Death!

Probably the worst thing that you can do when playing the oboe is play on flat oboe reeds. This is one of the most common reed problems and it can be a bit tricky to fix. Here are some things that you might want to try out and see if they help you.

After you get the basic construction of the reed in place, for example the back of the tip and the back, clip the reed to one millimeter longer than your planned final length. For example, it your finished reed length is 70 millimeters, then clip it right away to 71 millimeters.

After it is clipped, let the reed dry out completely before working on it again.

When you come back to it, it will be very resistant, but take your time and work on the tip first to get some vibration back into it. You will probably have to scrape the back and the heart a bit. Do not make drastic differences between the thickness of the parts of the reed.

What you will find is that the reed will hold it’s pitch better.

There are more things that you can do to fix flat oboe reeds, and I will talk about them in another post.

Hope this helps!

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“My reeds are flat.
Gouge is Innoledy or RDG. Shape is RDG-1 or Caleb-1.
I start tip at 66-67 mm.
Remove bark from heart.
Remove some from back up to 61-62 mm, not too much.
In order for reed to play easy and respond to conductor wishes for low notes pp, I scrape the tip, heart.
The pitch starts to drop.
I clip, reed is too hard.
I scrape, reed is too flat.
I clip, reed is too hard.
And so on and so forth.”

This comes from Pierre. Thanks!

Well unfortunately, this is one of the most common problems that we face as oboe reed makers. Remember that everything in reed making is a matter of balance and just because you scrape a bit from the reed, doesn’t mean a pitch disaster. if the reed is consistently hard, then clipping the tip will only make that situation worse. You need to get the reed really vibrating first.

The key is not just in the tip, but the balance between the tip and the heart, through the tip to heart transition. The vibrations need to pass through easily. Make sure that the drop-off between the heart and tip is very smooth and concise, and that the tip is separated a bit more. Get the heart vibrating and don’t be afraid to take a bit more out of the back. This will allow you to clip the reed again without loosing the vibrations. Make sure that the end of the tip is thin.

Low note response is basically all about vibration, vibration, vibration. The whole reed needs to work together on this one, and remember that a dark colorful sound does not come from a hard reed. It comes from a vibrating one.

One other point, you might want to try and use a shorter tube, maybe 46 mm and see if that helps.

Technorati Tags: flat oboe reeds, oboe reed low notes

To try it, just insert the pipe cleaner into the bottom of the tube. Push it up until it almost reaches the tip. Don’t go any higher or else you can damage the tip area. Scrape normally and see if the back has a bit more strength in it.

Give it a shot, it might work.

If you have a neat tip or trick, send it to me and I can put it in the next newsletter. There are very few absolutes with reed making and experimentation is sometimes the best way to learn!