Out of curiosity, when those of you who do make your reeds, do you find that you tend to end up with a scrape (if viewed from the side mind you) that is more straight and uniform from heel to reed lip, or do you tend towards a more scalloped or curved shape?
In the image below I’ve drawn the two scrapes I’m trying to describe. I tend towards more of the bottom more curved style, though it seems that most makers I’ve seen describe their methods appear (to me at least) to favor the first much flatter method.
Trouble is I can’t seem to get reliable tone or in some cases even so much as a crow unless I thin that heel portion a little more.
I’d be interested to learn what other’s technique is in this area. Granted, this is a bit oversimplified, but hopefully this gives a basic idea of what I’m after.
It is hard to say. I do not rely on strict measurements, rather, I let the cane tell me when it is thin enough… there’s a certain elasticity to the slip when you reach the ‘sweet spot’ (as it were) of thickness. This varies from one slip to another, even from the same tube in a lot of cases. Strict measurements do not allow for this, and the result being fewer reeds with good, successful results.
I understand and agree with all that Joe… the measure I gave just seems to be about where I tend to fall. Mostly I wanted to let y’all know I don’t (as a matter of course) tend to end up with 3mm sides or anything like that. From what I’ve gathered, the overall thickness of the slip after the final gouging and sanding should approximate what you’re shoting for in the finnished reed yes? As in a really well put together reed will tend to play or at least crow easily without any bridle - which should only be used to adjust tuning etc. and not the overall final playability of the finished reed. Would you guys agree with that?
What size sanding cylinder (or other shaping tool) are you using? What is the centerline thickness of your slip after gouging/forming?
You may need to go to larger diameter cane, narrower head, or smaller sanding cylinder in order to get a thinner slip without the edges getting too thin. However, very thin edges are fine IMO as long as they are very even.
The sanding cylinder I use varies depending on the cane, but generally something in the 2.3 - 2.5" range seems well suited for finishing. The final centerline thickness of my slips tends to be about 0.05" or just under 1.5mm. Sometimes things are slightly thicker or thinner, but this seems to be about right for most of mine.
That’s a very thick slip. I am surprised that you are ending up with such a thick slip, when using a sanding cylinder that size. What is the cane tube diameter you start with?
I’d suggest trying to get the centerline thickness down into the 1.0mm range, especially since you’re using hard cane. You can probably make the edges considerably thinner too.
Say, I was working on making a reed today and had somewhat the same question as you did.
My reeds commonly are too thin-lipped.
Today, I tried scraping the sides a little more and scraping the center a little less – making it closer to a shaped highland pipe reed than a sort of wedge.
At the moment, I seem to be making reeds that suffer from either the auto-cran on D or from a sharp and sinking back D. I’m trying not to make them so weak any more.
There’s a world of difference between 1 and 1.5 mm, in terms of reed behavior. For instance, in the third edition of “The Pipers’ Despair”, DMQ suggested that for the type of cane and reeds he was making a thickness of about 0.038" (0.96 mm) was common. He goes on to say
“There is a certain amount of leeway, say two or three thousandths of an inch thicker or thinner.”
Two or three thou amounts to around one twentieth of a millimeter, so the tolerances here are fairly small. For hard cane you’ll probably want to go even thinner, rather than thicker. I believe Benedict Koehler has suggested that the usual range for successful reeds is from about 0.9 mm to about 1.1 mm, and depending on the style of reed and hardness of the cane you could end up somewhere in that range.
I definitely find that the scoop shape works well for my chanter. Like you, if I go for strict ‘V’ shaped scrape that is flat when viewed from the side, the reed is really stiff and wont play. I dunno about the advice you have been getting to make your slips 1mm thick – I was making reeds that thin a couple of years back on the assumption that it might help sharpen my flat back D’s, but I went back to thicker slips after experimenting with thinner slips to no avail.
I have found that a 1.3-1.5mm thick slip (25mm Spanish cane formed on a 50mm sanding block) works best for me. I have tried larger blocks, but have never had any luck with anything above 65mm. I make the slip 12.5mm wide and put it on a 48mm staple. I use medium to soft density cane and my focus is on getting the edge thickness between 0.3 and 0.4mm so the variation in centre thickness is attributed to this focus.
I’m all for experimentation so give the thinner slips and flatter scrapes a go and see if it works for you, but I reckon you’re better off trying small variations on what you have found to work reasonably well for you thus far.
I’ll have to give a go at an overall thinner slip and see where that lands me. I’m wondering what the thinner cane will do to the stability of the reeds…but time the sanding cylinder will tell huh?
