A HISTORICAL MOMENT!!!
BEHOLD!!! THE REED!!!
On this day. July 13th. Cooper has made one of his finest reeds he has ever made.
Specs:
- Weber 1-B shape
- Weber Staple
- Cane: Grimaud
- Graf gouge (.64 down the middle, .45 on the sides)
- Crows: double Cs
- Tuning: A=440
Lengths:
- total = 69.2
- bottom of staple to end of thread = 46.8
- bottom of staple to bottom of window = 51
- bottom of staple to beginning of heart = 61.5
- bottom of staple to bottom corner of tip = 66
- bottom of staple to middle of tip = 67.
Thickness:
- Back (closer to windows) heart spine location = .46
- Front (closer to integration line) heart spine location = .37
- Left rail thickness = .38 *
- Right rail thickness = .42
- Thinnest right window spot (right behind the heart) = .32
- Thinnest Left rail thickness = .22 *
- Thickness of middle of extreme tip = .03
- Thickness of corner of extreme tip = .01
Other:
- Clipped corners
- The tip is not offset clipped (1 blade slightly longer than the other)
*As learned from Mr. Weber, scraping the left side of the rail and window (left side when tip is facing straight up) while your blades are slipped right-handed (for right handers, your top blade would be slipped to the right if your tip is facing upward) helps the sides settle against each other, thus forming a tighter seal and settling in against each other better.
Cooper,
that’s one textbook reed you got there! and thanks for the tip on the left/right thickness thing…i’ll add that to the bago’tricks. Maybe you can post a sound file so we can hear what that reed sounds like! One question…I notice you clip that corners - I know some think that frees up the tip to vibrate better and sometimes also helps to deal with frayed corners…Is that something you alsways do? Are Weber’s tubes on the thin/thick side, and what does the opening look like (round/oval)? I’m using nickel silver AK Loree tubes, Glotin’s and Pisonis for the most part, though I’m still getting great reeds using French nickel silver tubes I’ve had for over 30 years! I’ve made a decision to move to AK’s over time just to eliminate variability and because Loree claims they fit the AK bore, though I wonder how much that’s just marketing hype.
Comment by bautbois — July 14, 2007 @ 1:06 am
I clip the sides because I believe it helps free up the tip to vibrate and focus the air and vibrations inward. Although I have no scientific proof to this, its one of those “feel” things that feels right, so I do.
Weber’s staples aren’t thin like glotin (when I tie a reed, I always am bending the opening and mess it up!) but they’re not thick like you’d get off a crappy student reed. I’d say they’re somewhere in between. Granted, they’re not as consistently manufactured as the Chudnows, which are always the same, but they’re very good acoustically, and occasionally if you get one slightly thicker than the others, you can just take a nail file to the side and thin it a bit.
My biggest complaint about the Weber tubes is sometimes the synthetic cork slides around on the end. I’ve gotten pretty good at taking a razor blade, and putting a drop of super glue at the end, and using it to dab a bit of superglue to the end so that the cork stays in place. You can see a picture of a Weber tube opening next to Chudnows if you scroll back some posts.
I definitely think that a staple CAN match a specified bore, and wouldn’t be surprised if the AK staple fit the AK bore. I got Weber’s bore adjustment, and he says the staple was designed to use with the bore adjustment. So far, I appreciate my intonation MUCH more with the weber staples than with any others I’ve tried, but I don’t know if I would respond the same without the bore adjustment. The Weber staples are $3/piece, so it’s not a terrible investment risk to go ahead and buy 10 to play around with. Might buy them with the Grimaud.
I don’t have a good sound recorder, so I dare not post a sound clip. I need to upgrade with a better computer, better sound card, and better recorder.
Comment by cjwrightoboe — July 14, 2007 @ 1:26 am