I'm taking reed-making lessons from two different teachers who both make excellent pro reeds, reeds I am delighted to play on.
Neither of them can tell me why mine turn out flat and resistant; they sound good, but are flat. If I cut the tip to raise the pitch, they are too resistant, and then I have to take cane out to lower the resitance, and then they are....flat. It is a recurring pattern, reed after reed, so I don't think it's a case of a bad piece of cane or two. I'm lucky if they crow a B, and I have to work to get the pitch up to A=440 when I play, basically blowing the reed up to pitch.
I've tried using shorter staples; I've tried tying on longer than my usual to have the volume of the finished reed less, which should raise the pitch. I've slipped the blades (one teacher does that and the other doesn't) to raise the pitch, but end up in the same cycle.
No dice.
Any ideas out there?
MT
Neither of them can tell me why mine turn out flat and resistant; they sound good, but are flat. If I cut the tip to raise the pitch, they are too resistant, and then I have to take cane out to lower the resitance, and then they are....flat. It is a recurring pattern, reed after reed, so I don't think it's a case of a bad piece of cane or two. I'm lucky if they crow a B, and I have to work to get the pitch up to A=440 when I play, basically blowing the reed up to pitch.
I've tried using shorter staples; I've tried tying on longer than my usual to have the volume of the finished reed less, which should raise the pitch. I've slipped the blades (one teacher does that and the other doesn't) to raise the pitch, but end up in the same cycle.
No dice.
Any ideas out there?
MT