May 18, 2012

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Author Topic: Transition
oboeben
Newbie
Posts: 2
Post Transition
on: February 17, 2012, 03:43

Getting a smooth transition, one that allows the reed to vibrate completely and yet doesn't sacrifice the stability of the thumb and side octaves, is the hardest part about reed making for me. I blame much of this on my knife not being sharp enough, but even when it is, I am not sure what kind of scraping technique to use to create this nice looking slope. I seem to err towards making an abrupt cliff that doesn't allow the whole reed to vibrate, or too long a transition which doesn't let the tip vibrate quite independently enough. And I go far to either extreme very consistently. How do I achieve a happy medium: what exactly do I do with the knife to achieve that medium?

Thanks for all for any wisdom about this!
admin
Administrator
Posts: 2
Post Re: Transition
on: February 17, 2012, 04:54

The best thing to do is to define the back corner or the transition first, making sure that you follow through on the edge to the end of the tip and on to the plaque.Then think of scraping more in the channel area of the tip, again following through to the end of the tip. Once the tip and heart are vibrating, you have taken cane out of the back and clipped the reed up to pitch, re-define the back part of the tip again until it vibrates. Now, move your knife up to about halfway from the back of the tip and repeat the process that you just did to the tip before. This will make something like a "double tip" or "shadow tip". If you need more stability, you can define the back corner of the tip more. I didn't really talk about this in the reed book this way as this is something a bit newer in the sense of explaining it. A shorter tip will also help with high note stability.

Hope this helps!

Joe
oboeben
Newbie
Posts: 2
Post Re: Transition
on: February 17, 2012, 16:54

Thanks so much, Joe. I think most of this makes sense to me, intellectually, it's just getting my hand to do it (probably a knife sharpness problem). The one thing from your reply that I can't quite picture is "channel area of the tip." What do you mean by that?

Thanks again!
Ben
admin
Administrator
Posts: 2
Post Re: Transition
on: February 23, 2012, 04:15

Think of it as the space between what would be the "spine area" of the tip and the side of the tip. Do not over do it though!

Good luck

Joe
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