Mediocre results for Jillian

Sunday September 02 2007

I am hesitant about making reeds commercially, and the reasons are obvious.

I don’t doubt my ability, and I know I can always make a good reed for an oboe if I have it in hand. This means, I can always make a good reed for someone if I am in the same location/climate, and know the instrument. That’s why my time with Patty was so rewarding; I could finally try out her two marigauxs, and see how different reeds responded in mine compared to hers. In fact, she needs reeds with a bit more “noise” in them than mine, which is a bit more finicky. This is an all-too-typical difference between marigaux and loree, but until I have it in hand, you never know just how much difference there is.

I received a reed report from Jillian Camwell of my 20 student reeds and 5 “pro” reeds from her. It went something like this:

Great: 1 (I would consider keeping for myself!)

Good: 6 (sometimes needed a clip to bring down in pitch, but they were all easy to play with good tone over the range, no leaks)

OK: 6 (What you typically find in music stores, not consistent pitch, not great tone, but all easy to play and few leaks)

Need fixing up: 7 (Most have leaks so will need wrapping, some much too hard for students to play, all are out of tune, sharp or flat)

Now, granted, there were some extreme circumstances i.e. trying to make 25 reeds during an international move (Korea to USA…). But what really puts a red flag out there for me is the report of LEAKS…!!!

When someone writes to me and says “They leak.” I say. “HUH…???” Not that I don’t believe them. I DO. But I keep all my reeds over a period of 2 or 3 days to make sure that they settle down and specifically DON…’T leak. So if they’re leaking over there, but not over here, something is happening.

1. The blades could be slipping and begin to leak. Does the oboist check if the blades are slipping, and push them back together? I regularly do this on my reeds if the blades slip, and expect the oboist to try the same.
2. The soak time could be different. I usually soak like this: Dip in water, leave set out for 2 or 3 minutes (4 or 5 minutes in very dry areas), and then RE-DIP…, and let them really plump up. I prefer an oversoaked reed to a not-enough soaked reed, and count on a good soak to plump up the opening, and get the maximum vibration.
3. Humidity rate could be too different. Different parts of the USA… have different humidity, and that’s normal. Not all reeds work well in the same humidity (not many do actually.) I find the wider the reed, the wider the humidity difference can be before it really effects it. But if there isn’t enough humidity, sometimes my reeds dry out too quickly, and thus, they aren’t fully soaked anymore!

When someone receives an order that they’re not satisfied, I feel AWFUL…. That’s good news for the reedmaker, but it’s a lot of personal stress on myself. My immediate response is “Oh my God!” followed by “QUICK…! MAKE… 10 REEDS… FOR… THEM… AND… SEND… THEM… OUT… AS REPLACEMENT… IMMEDIATELY…!”

Jillian’s reed order was an order for 5 pro reeds, and 20 student reeds. Therefore, I’m pleased that she received at least 7 that she thought were pretty good, enough for herself! There were supposed to be 20 student reeds which would qualify as just that; Student-level reeds. But I’m very surprised that she found them to be 1. inconsistent and 2. some leaked. In fact, I’m baffled by this. What could cause such a drastic change? I’m usually a very consistent reedmaker, and I never send out a reed that leaks. So I’m just not sure what happened somewhere between Oregon and Iowa.

Jillian gave me some good tips, but unfortunately they were tips I was already living by.

1. “I think that (making consistent reeds) is the most important part of running a business.”×I agree, and I wouldn’t be in the reed business if I could only make 2 good reeds in a batch of 5. I’d say my ratio (for my preference) is 4/5, 1 reed taking me about 15-20 minutes each.
2. “I would just recommend not sending out the reeds that you wouldn’t play on yourself.”×Well, I wouldn’t send out student reeds that I wouldn’t want my student playing on. And the same for pro reeds.

Final Note: I will be sending a couple more out to Jillian to make up for the pro reeds that were just “Good”. I want more GREAT…!

Back home.

Sunday September 02 2007

Tired. Very tired. Phoenix to Eugene in two days. It was brutal.

So I have arrived back home and now it’s time to get to work. I still don’t have my stuff from Korea, but I do have three working gouging machines, a pre-gouger/guillotine (I ordered a 2nd one from Mr. Driscoll to keep at school too), and a whole bunch of cane waiting for me. Lots of reed orders to fill.

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