What do ya think, www.fibracell.com, anybody tried this stuff?
The link wont work
I sent 2 saxophone reeds to my pipemaker for him to experiment with. The comments were: The pieces aren’t long enough to work with, the material is too hard to gouge and leaves fuzzy edges when cut with normal reedmaking tools. It may show promise for drone reeds though.
I was given a few old sax reeds made from fibracell by my local music shop (the manager plays GHB’s so is helpful) to experiment with. I soaked them in an anti- bacteria solution before doing anything with them. What I noticed was the water based solution had no soaking effect on the material.
The pieces I was given were from a sax as stated, therefore a single reed with no curvature so I couldn’t attempt a chanter reed.
I decided to have a go at making a drone reed instead. This was intended to fit to a wooden body but the problem I had was this:
The material I found very hard to shave to the desired thickness and it was also very fibrous. The net result was a frustrating couple of hours and a unfinished experiment.
Having said that, the material no doubt has promise but certainly not with my basic reed making tools. Maybe somebody who is more dextrous and skillful will succeed where I failed.
Jolyon.
If you look at the web site a little more closely, you will see that even the Fibrocell people don’t think this material is suitable for double reeds. However, they offer a second product called Americane for oboe reeds. I have written them to enquire a bit more about this product.
Does anyone out there have any experience with the Americane oboe double reed, and if so, have you ever tried to adapt one of these to UPs?
djm
Here’s some previous discussion about fibracell:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=10871&highlight=fibracell&sid=9aa598375222f81e70021f9be14d617e
djm, I mentioned that I believe the reeds were cast/moulded giving them a smooth surface. If they were sanded from blanks they would have a different (rougher) surface. That’s probably why they can’t provide blanks for other instruments.
Tony, I agree the Fibrocell seems to be a molded product, therefore not available outside of the intended design (sax reeds). Its their other product, Americane, that I am more interested in now.
djm
one user review:
“Easy for novice by B King posted, 4/24/2004 7:38:00 PM
Musical experience:Piano teacher, church musician, Style of music:church orchestra, Home town:Sterling VA. I am a self-taught oboe player and find these reeds to be much easier to play than regular cane reeds. I often to have time to allow a reed to moisten.”
Looks like a few places I researched are using the same pictures, description and review.
Hi Guys,
The stuff is a dead end for us. It is “Kevlar”! Same stuff bulletproof vests are made from. It can’t be worked on with conventional tools. I am told it takes VERY expensive industrial machinery to shape it. The makers have zero interest in working with a maket as small as ours…I’ve tried.
Henry