I recently attended the Birmingham bassoon choir Bassoon Day, attended the reed making workshop, and bought the necessary equipment to try it at home.

I have since started 4 or 5 reeds, but I'm struggling. They all look fine when I do the first couple of steps, and I get to the stage where you push the mandrel up inside them. Then I leave them on the rack to dry overnight, and when I come back they have all split up from the bottom towards the blade.

The first couple I soaked the reed blank overnight, and the next couple I soaked it for about 36 hours before starting. I wondered if I am scoring the bark not enough or too much, whether I am pushing the mandrel too far up the inside, or doing something else wrong.

Does anyone know of any reedmaking courses?

This is the method I use:

1. start with gouged, shaped and profiled cane
2. soak cane for about 15 minutes
3. do a bit of extra profiling to my taste
4. score the bark with line about 1-2mm apart
5. fold cane in half
6. put on first wire, fairly tight, and soak again for a minute or so
7. wrap the bark between wire and bottom with wet string almost to the end (leave enough bare to put on the third wire)
8. push onto mandrel. I have a mark on my mandrel showing how far to push in, the end of the mandrel shouldn't go past the start of the blade, and the diameter of the mandrel at the bottom of the reed should match the diameter of the crook.
9. put on third wire, tighten and use pliers to shape the bottom of the reed so that it is circular. The scoring should ensure that the cane doesn't split.
10. remove the string and put on the second wire.
11. tighten and tidy all 3 wires
12. at this point I usually put on the "turks head" and seal it with several coats of clear nail varnish.
13. leave to dry and settle
...
14. cut off the tip and (the hard bit) try to make it work. Some reaming may be necessary if the reed has shrunk slightly.

Chris

Thank you , that is similar, but not identical to the method shown in Dr Downing's book and the workshop she gave. She suggests inserting the mandrel before putting any of the wires on, when it is just held together with wet string. She also emphasises that the cane must be soaked for AT LEAST two hours before you start. Do you think I am soaking it for too long? I was assuming longer would be better as it would be softer.

When you score the bark how deep do the cuts go? I find it quite hard to judge how deep I am cutting, and to get the scoring all the way up the bark and not onto the blade. My mandrel has a mark to show how far to push it and I have been careful to check that it doesn't go into the blade bit of the reed.

You also don't mention leaving it to dry once you have got the wires on. Do you just carry straight on, because again the book and workshop made it sound like it was necessary to let it dry, and the soak it again to do the finishing off.

When you cut the tip do you use a razor blade? At the workshop they had a little gadget for cutting them, but it was quite expensive, and they said you could do it by hand, so I didn't buy one. (The tools and equipment were quite expensive and in view of my current inability to get anything without a crack probably a good job I didn't spend the money!)

Personally I don't think soaking for longer helps, the cane just get waterlogged. However I emphasise that my method is what I use, and it works for me, but I'm sure it's not the only way or the best way.

I think putting the first wire on before inserting the mandrel is better (and maybe helps to protect against the blade splitting). I've always done it like that, so probably that's what my teacher showed me to do, but it was many years ago, so I can't be sure.

I score with my reed knife, starting from the blade end of the bark and moving to the bottom, not particularly deep though, probably not all the way through the bark. Occasionally I press too hard and it splits the cane, but that is usually recoverable.


I generally put the turks head on straight away, but I don't cut the tip until the reed is dry. But I usually only make one reed at a time anyway.


I cut using my reed knife, which has a straight blade, on a flat wooden surface. Just rest the edge of the blade on the reed where you want to cut and press down evenly and quickly.

The other thing I do before folding the cane in half is to make sure that there's a definite step from the blade to the bark. Possibly this helps to stop the cane splitting, but to be honest I've never really found that a problem. Do the reeds split before you have done anything to them? Maybe squeeze the first wire from top and bottom before you dry the reed to make sure it's not too open when you cut the tip?

Chris

OK thanks, I'll try again when I have time.

Tried. Failed. Nuff said