Does anyone play or know someone who plays the oboe or basson. I was wondering do they have the same problem with their instruments and reeds as Uilleann Pipe players??
Yes and no. There are entire books (great reading, btw) on oboe/bassoon reed making with lots of great pictures and details on the reeds. One of the big differences is that oboe/bassoon double reeds are wet blown. Directly in contact with the player’s lips.
What do you mean by “the same problems?”
Dionys
Yeah, and the other thing about being in contact with your lips is my old saw, the embouchure. They can manipulate those reeds infintely with lip pressure.
I bet they think we’re nuts for putting our reeds out of reach, so to speak.
Stuart
i agree…how many times mouth-blowing a reed that im in the process of making has it working beautifully…but put the cap on and it won’t make any noise with the bag at all…or plays out of tune with me just not realizing how much i must have been doing with my lips while testing it.
Antaine..
You shouldn’t be mouth-blowing your reed or touching your lips to the reed lips to test your chanter reeds, anyhow. The proper way to test a reed is to suck from the staple end, not using your lungs/diaphram to create the vaccuum. I wouldn’t think mouth-blowing a chanter reed would work, especially for testing where the reed sounds & if the second octave chirp is working.
Dionys
I played oboe for may years and got quite good at making my own reeds and am only beginning to do this for UPs. It seems to me that oboe reeds are much more forgiving in the end due to the above mentioned reasons, but do require a little more finesse in terms of fine scraping (the lips have to be less than paper thin). Oboe reeds also are generally made from pre-gouged/formed strips, which saves alot of the startup time and are worked with wet, so are easier to form around the staple without cracking. That said, oboe reeds only last a few months at best and are alot more subject to abuse as well, and we’ve all heard how long a good UP reed can last, so there’s a pretty good tradeoff there.
Oboe reeds also are generally made from pre-gouged/formed strips, which saves alot of the startup time
Have you tried the howard reed making kit. It comes complete with pre-gouged cane and all the bits. I heard one the other night and it sounded superb. The piper told me it was a piece of cake to put together, and worked straight away.
Hi Leaky_Joe, where abouts are you in west yorkshire?
I hear there might be a new pipers club
starting up in the area. 