I’ve dipped into the art of drone reed making, and a question has come up from my experiences so far. You know how you can put your finger over the drone (while it’s sounding) and press a little harder on the bag then the drone will shut off? Well Mr. Bartione reed seems to take a lot of sqeezing on the bag in order for that to happen, while Bass and Tenor are easy goers. Anybody know what would cause this?
same thing happens on my tenor drone. could be that the toungue is open too much. If it’s not effecting the reed in a bad way, i wouldn’t bother trying to change it.
have you tried comparing drones individually to see if they “activate” at the same pressures? if the toungue is open a bit much you might find the other drones fire up first then the baritone at slightly more pressure.
just a suggestion to try.
Hm… I have yet to try that. So far with the reeds I made for them, I find when the bag is deflated, with the drone key is open and while filling the bag up, the reeds kind of “freak out” and seem to almost hit second octaves or some strange super sharp pitch. But when I shut the drone key off, fill the bag up, apply appropriate pressure to the bag then flip the drone key open, all 3 drone reeds fire up immediately and accurately without incident.
As you said, my Baritone, the “stiff” reed, plays like a dream as far as I can tell, so I’m merely being picky about this, and so it isn’t really a big deal, but I’m still learning, and I was just trying to figure out what would cause the problem I brought up is all. I may not even mess with it since you brought up a good point, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.
I’ll have to try that test you mentioned next time I’m playing. Thanks!
You might roll him between the palms of your hand. This might close the tongue a bit.