Montrose Music Suplies
http://home.iprimus.com.au/montrosem/Montrose

Reed making procedures

Assembling a reed from scratch….
1 Lightly sand the inside of the gouged cane with fine water proof sandpaper.

2 Soak cane for 9 – 15 hours.

3 Shape cane if using a straight shaper; otherwise shape cane after profiling

4 Profiling cane:- With a sharp knife take the cane off starting from the middle of the cane blank:-

             Viewed from side-on the blank should get thinner towards the middle:-

            Cane should be taken off to produce a profile contoured like this which has the thinnest parts in the middle of the blank.

5 Sand the profile with fine waterproof sandpaper.

6 With a sharp knife, cut the edge of the cane between a & b:-

7 Score the cane thus, avoiding the centre.

8 Fold cane over, using a Stanley blade or similar. (n.b. do not cut the cane).

9 Apply 1st wire tightly. This should help ensure that the cane will not split during step no.11

10 Apply 2nd wire but not quite so tight as the first wire.

11 Insert hot mandril, squeezing the second wire on the side.

12 Fully tighten the 2nd wire, then apply the third wire. Then with blunt nosed pliers, crush the cane around the 3rd wire, into the round shape of the mandril. Keep reed on hot mandril for a number of minutes so that the heat will work the cane into the new round shape.

13 Let dry on mandril or drying rack for at least two days.

14 Cane will shrink, so tighten wires and cut off excess wire.

15 Apply twine, starting at the 3rd wire (bending it flat onto the twine) and ending at the 2nd wire.

16 Apply two coats of lacquer.

17 Cut of tip and adjust the wires so that the tip opening looks correct.