Just wondering if any reed makers are experimenting with 3D printers. I believe David Daye was working on a plastic chanter reed (years ago) before the proliferation of 3D printing. If plastic chanter reeds are feasible (if admittedly not ideal), it seems like the latest high-resolution 3D printers would be a good solution for manufacturing parts. After all, 3D printing is being used to create replacement heart valves, car parts, pistols, and so on. Is a chanter reed really out of reach?
Here is one I had printed quite a few years ago now, it was a prototyping mtl. At that time the machine was half a million quid and the material very expensive too,
Unless the mechanical properties (density, elasticity, etc.) and acoustic properties (however quantified) of the plastic and cane/elder/spruce/etc are the same or very similar, I’d think you’d only get a plastic thing that looks like a reed. The “tying on” of the slips alone creates mechanical qualities that would not be replicated by layering of plastic to create a 3-D replica. I’d also think the arrangement of organic cells in a radial array would not be the same as horizontal layering - might be an issue.
I’d think you’d have a dead reed if printed “in whole”…a handsome corpse, perhaps - or just re-invent the reed.
Ah, but the blades of the reed could be printed singly, then tied on to a staple.
By the by, as noted by being able to 3D print heart valves, livers, etc, it doesn’t have to be a plastic product per se; we can 3D print cellular tissues.
you can even print in cellulose.
Look here: http://www.legere.com/bassoon-reeds. Surprisingly Bela fleck’s Bassoonist uses them.
Bob
not reeds but an entire instrument - i just saw this man on the news - here’s his site
The Legere reeds seem to be made of machined plastic, not 3D-printed; maybe their material has properties more similar to cane (“grain,” etc.) than with, say, injected-molded or “printed” polymers.
Regardless, I think this whole area of inquiry is great. On the one hand, cane isn’t going away any sooner in the uilleann world than it is in the bassoon/oboe world. But how cool is it, to have a “Plan B” for when your painstakingly crafted cane reeds are refusing to cooperate?
I’m going to keep right on honing my fledgling reedmaking skills; certainly, cane will continue to be the gold standard for tone and musicality. But I rejoice at the prospect of viable alternatives to utter reliance on the aforementioned skills, at least if/when Legere or someone makes a synthetic uilleann chanter reed that sounds good. The Legere bassoon reed seems OK, though it’s hard to say just how OK given that the video on the Legere URL is of heavily-processed “electric” bassoon playing.
Cheers,
Mick