After Christmas, my teacher is going to start teaching me how to scrape reeds. I told him that I've already scraped quite a few myself, and the few that didn't fly out of my hand like a bullet, got squashed, cracked etc, actually did play.... after a fashion!

So I want to get some gouged, shaped reed, ready for tying on. I already have plenty of staples.

So what is the difference between the cane here? Alliaud... etc:

http://www.fortayreeds.co.uk/products_02.htm

Should I just order a few of each?

Steve

Steve, I was at a reed making workshop a couple of weeks ago run by Fortay. The impression I got was that the Chinese reed is slightly softer than the French, but that's about it. Steve and Lara (who are Fortay) were very approachable and helpful. I'm sure if you email them via the website they would help you out.

I think it's like reeds - all the different kinds of cane are just individual. Just try some and see! (Probably the cheapest while you're still likely to mangle it....)

I would reccomend Ke xun cane...its not as brittle as the french cane and very forgiving...I know you can order cane from Fortay and I am sure they would reccomend the same.....

Andrew

I'm not sure at this stage how much difference the cane will make. Until you can consistently scrape a reed (ie scrape it identically every time) you're not going to know if it's you or the cane that has made the difference.

I bought some Fortay cane from Howarths (it is just called "Fortay" so I have no idea which one it is) and a couple of the reeds I have made from it have been really nice. (The reason the others are not so nice has nothing to do with the cane).

Okay, so I think I'll order some of each but also some cheap tied on-ready for scraping reeds from Ebay USA. These are so useful for practising on.

My teacher uses Prestige cane which he orders by phone from Patricola, so I may try some of those as well.

It's just that with the change in the exchange rate, those Fortay reeds are starting to look a bit more attractive .... at least from here.

Steve