In 1995, Eugene Lambe shared his reed wisdom for an entire week at Augusta. I present here notes I took (marked with **), with some additional comments made when I put these in Iris na bPiobairi in 1995 and that I added a few minutes ago (to clarify what I could after 9 years). These notes are principles and techniques for specific stages in reedmaking, not a complete recipe per se. The illustrations have been omitted, but hopefully the descriptions are clear enough to render them unnecessary.
I felt that Eugene’s thoughts might be a connection to reedmakers from the past, so I figured I should submit these into the general lore.
------------ GOUGING ---------------
** To prepare the slip for gouging, flatten the inside of the slip with the utility knife.
[ES95 - I use a small model plane to do this, and it may also be used to get the correct width. Make quite sure the edges are exactly equal and even along the length or you may get leaks later on.]
[ES04 - The reason for preparing a well-formed slip like this is so that the curve you’re producing will start from a flat, even surface, and will be more likely to turn out symmetrical.]
** Make full, even strokes with the gouge arm braced firmly against the body.
[ES04 - To avoid scooping and rotating. One of the reasons for prefering gouging to only sanding is the tendency of following the natural curved motion of the arm when you sand. By “full” is meant having the gouge produce long, consistent shavings that basically run the length of the slip, as opposed to lots of little curly bits]
** Steady and guide the gouge with the fingers of your free hand.
** Gouge to 0.050".
[ES95 - Note however that the thickness and width of the slip and the diameter of the cane tube interrelate to give a certain “elevation” between the inner curves. This elevation forms the reed cavity and the opening of the lips, thus affecting the tuning and response. Also the slip thickness determines how far back and how much you have to thin the outside to get the scrape to vibrate easily. All of these factors are critical to the reeds acoustical role.]
[ES04 - By itself, a 1" diameter tube will yield a flatter elevation than a 3/4" tube. Although you form the inner curve with your gouging/sanding, you’ll end up with a thinner slip in the case of the bigger tube. This makes sense when you draw it out. This is also why a specific thickness, as measured with the calipers, may not give you the appropriate elevation.]
** A twisted slip can screw up your gouging. It can be corrected by twisting it the other way and holding for a minute.
** Feel the inside of the slip to detect any ridges. Gently gouge them out.
[ES04 - “Gouging” is the wrong term here. You are actually rubbing the elevated bit with the gouge.]
------------ TAILS ---------------
** Pare out the tails in the shape of a bottleneck (Illustration A)
[ES04 - That is, the corners are still there at this stage. You pare inward curves from the corners to the end of the tails, leaving about 3/16" wide at the end. Note that you’ve already split the slip and bound the halves together when you get to this.]
** Insert the staple a bit and note the two Vs formed at the side. (Illustration C).
[ES04 - That is, when viewed from the side, you’ll see two gaps in the shape of V’s. The one at the staple mouth is very wide. The V gap formed above the corners is very narrow.]
** Starting at the corners, pare VERY tiny bits to form a smooth curve from tails up to the sides. The two Vs should merge into one and the sides become sort of a tapered wine bottle shape (Illustration B). The reason for this step is that if the two separate Vs are left, when the reed is bound up, pressure will be focused where the two Vs meet at the base of the reed, instead of being distributed up along the sides.
[ES95 - At worst, the reed will leak, and at best, it will be a poor vibrator.]
[ES04 - Eugene used the gouge for paring the corners into ‘shoulders’.]
** After smoothing the curves with sandpaper, point the tails from 1/4" and chamfer the tails.
[ES04 - I think this pointing of the end and chamfering of the tails is largely asthetic, so you end up with a professional-looking reed]
------------ INSERTING STAPLE ---------------
** Notice when inserting the staple that the lips close slightly.
[ES95 - This needs to be considered for the final elevation. ]
[ES04 - You want the reed to be close to operational before you start hacking and squeezing it; then make minor moves to make it sing.]
** As you continue to insert it, the staple will meet a resistance point. Beyond this, the points of the tails start to come off the staple. If you bind the reed like this, you will be relieving pressure from the head, causing leaks and poor vibration as before.
[ES95 - This is as much a function of the taper, thickness, and diameter of the staple as the opening between the tails.]
[ES04 - Look at the distance between the tail ends before you insert the staple. It is a consequence of your cane diameter, meat/bark thickness, and your gouging. Just having a staple that “worked before” isn’t enough when the cane itself, or its preparation, has varied.]
** Gouging out the tails slightly will allow you to insert the staple farther before the resistance point is reached.
[ES95 - It also lessens the closing of the lips and reduces the reed cavity. Also note that Eugene said the Rowsome felt that good reeds were open and chamber-like inside the base of the head. Ungouged tails help to pry open the base of the reed, creating such a “sound box”, or it can be created artificially by gouging just in front of the staple.]
[ES04 - This gouging will affect the tuning of the reed.]
------------ THE SCRAPE ---------------
** Pare out U-shape for 1/8" at lips, making them very thin, but even.
[ES04 - That is, give the head a “finished”, round scrape that only extends back 1/8"]
** Continue to pare back to 3/4-1", maintaining hollow scrape.
[ES95 - Make sure that middle of scrape around the lips is never thinner than outsides. I recommend practicing on old cane bits before ruining good cane. Use a very sharp blade.]
[ES04 - By “hollow”, I mean concave. The scrape is not uniform as it goes back. You want it to be thicker and stiffer toward the back.]
** Sand heart of scrape, not lips, over a cylinder to smooth out and thin enough to produce a sound.
[ES04 - This was a way to take off some of the thickness behind the lips without making the lips become paper thin and start to disintegrate.]
** Continue sanding until sound can be produced comfortably. If you hear squeaking when testing the crow, most likely the scrape is not the same on both halves.
[ES04 - As someone memorably pointed out, like toking on a joint. ]
** Chop off “two spider’s legs” worth from the lips and insert in the chanter, making sure it is airtight.
[ES04 - Eugene means airtight where the reed inserts into the chanter.]
------------ TUNING ---------------
** Leave reed alone for a few days before making final adjustments. Like newly cut lumber, the fibers are prone to shifting.
** Test A. It should be slightly flat.
** Check bottom D and back D against tenor drone.
[ES95 - Pressure for chanter must balance pressure for drones.]
** If back D is flat, cut small amount from lips. Repeat as needed, remembering that the scrape may have to be thinned and extended at base.
** If G and A are off, but come in tune with increased pressure, reed is too strong. Either close down bridle or sand lips.
[ES95 - Both of these reduce reed cavity more or less].
[ES04 - Yes, that’s true, but this comment was superfluous here.]
** Check octave. If flat, insert staple 1/16"-1/8" into the reed head. If sharp, pull out. If this doesn’t work, make a new staple.
[ES95 - A bigger staple lowers the pitch overall, but the upper octave will be sharper relative to the lower. Also as you shorten the reed when tuning, the pitch of lower octave will go up, but the upper octave will become relatively sharper. These comments apply equally to the reed cavity itself.]
[ES04 - The main lesson here is that Eugene had no problem with rebinding the head, even onto a new staple. He was actually pretty quick to try a new staple, before butchering or torturing the head.]
** Do not get emotionally attached to a piece of cane. If something is wrong, don’t continue the struggle. Start over.
[ES04 - And yes, you can put tape on the holes and stuff crap up the chanter in various ways. It is our duty to be in tune.]