#reeds

Oboe cane is a bamboo-like plant. The most popular strain is from the Var region of France. Different growers are known for cane that produces different tonal qualities in a reed.

The cane is harvested, dried, loosely trimmed to a manageable size, and roughly sorted by diameter.

I buy diameter 10.5-11mm, though sort it further to 10.75 mm. The smaller the diameter, the wider the opening of the reed, which affects tone quality and how tiring it is to play on. A pound of tube cane these days is in the neighborhood of $250 USD.

I further discard any tubes that are warped or otherwise seem bad. Then, I use a splitter to split it into 3 pieces, which I then further sort for uniformity (I may get 1 or 2 usable pieces - never all 3). I have a specialized splitting tool ($55), but have used a hunting arrow in the past.

Once the cane is split, it needs to have its length and sides more uniformly cut. One uses a guillotine to cut to length and a pre-gouger to trim the sides. Pre-gougers have a few different forms -- mine is styled after a planning board (around $250).

Next is an extremely critical machine - the gouger. It runs at least $1800 USD (and usually has the guillotine attached) and needs regular maintenance.

The gouger blade scrapes the curved inside of the piece of tube cane. We use a micrometer ($300) to measure final thickness along several key measurements - the sides should be thinner than the center.

There's several brands of gougers, with different beds set for different diameters of cane (back to that first sorting step) and different blades that thin the cane in different ratios. It all boils down to regional and personal preference. It helps to figure out your preferred measurements for everything quickly, or you have to buy redundant tools.

Oh, yes - different regions in the world have different tone qualities they prefer in an oboist. When I was younger, I could tell the nationality of an oboist just by hearing them play.

So, now we have gouged cane. And all the while, attrition happens - cane splits, or we discover imperfections.

The next step is to shape the cane. Again, there is a huge amount of personal and regional preference. We fold a piece of soaked, gouged cane over a metal template (called a shaper tip - those funny prongs are called the "ears") and trim to shape with a razor or knife. Shaper tips run about $200 and many of the standard shapes were developed by famous oboists of yore. The handles are about $125.

Now, we're finally ready to make a reed! The next step is to tie it onto a metal staple ($5-20 each). Again, length (comes in a few different sizes) and diameter contribute to tone quality of the reed and how it feels.

Staples used to have a fairly uniform shape (cylindrical), but now some come in conical forms as well. They used to be wrapped in cork to create a secure outer seal with the top hole of the oboe, but many staples are now 100% metal with silicone o-rings. Some staples have wooden sleeves on the inside to further influence tonal qualities. They are all reusable, until the pressure of the reed thread starts to deform them over time. They may be silver, brass, or gold-plated.

If you haven't guessed, oboe reeds are heavily influenced by tiny, tiny details. You will spend your entire career dialing in these details, preferring certain combinations for certain types of work.

So, you tie that piece of shaped cane to the staple. Even the thread size and type (and of course, color) are a matter of preference. I like silk thread because it doesn't stretch. Some people like nylon because it does. A spool of thread is around $15. The end product is called a blank.

Finally, you can start scraping it with a knife (average of $75). You might use files and sandpaper to smooth things along. I use a wedge shaped knife for rough work, and a double hollow ground knife (kind of like a shaving razor) for the fine work.

I also use a little piece of metal called a "plaque" ($5, super easy to lose) so I can work on one blade of the reed at a time without crushing it. Plaques can be flat or rounded and not all are metal.

And a tool called a mandrel ($75) to hold the blank. Your mandrel better match the brand/size of staple, otherwise the staple will get deformed over time.

And a little curved cutting block ($10) for thinly trimming the tip. These are very pleasing to hold in the hand and many are made from the same wood oboes are made of (grenadilla).

There are two main schools of scraping - the American or "long" scrape and the French or "short" scrape. The American scrape was perfected by a Frenchman (Marcel Tabuteau), hope that helps you remember which is which.

As an American, I use the American scrape. I like the darker tone (I almost sound German). I use a micrometer (and go by feel) to literally help dial in my work. And little details, like the length of the reed, go a long way towards how in tune and how responsive it is.

It takes years to perfect reed-making. Serious oboists will likely spend just as much time on reeds as they practice and will always have a several cases full of them in various stages.

One of my teachers, John Mack, used to say, "a reed a day keeps the psychiatrist away". Oboe reeds are temperamental and don't last long, and change drastically due to humidity, temperature, and elevation. (The bigger the reed gets, the less temperamental they are -- there is a reason why bassoonists are known to be far less uptight than oboists.)

Synthetic reeds ($150 each) are… fine. I have used them in the past. Good to keep your chops in shape. But they continue to lack nuance, even though you can now scrape on some of them to further refine their tone qualities.

There will likely always be a place for the hand-made, natural cane reed. And you can guess it is expensive to make your own. Luckily, you can jump in at any point in the process -- some people have dedicated reedmakers, some buy blanks, some buy gouged, and so on down the production chain.