based on 36 years of intensive research, endless bassoon camps,
seminars, personal communications, and pure inspiration!
Here are instructions for a fool proof method of bassoon reed construction. We begin with shaped,
profiled cane.
The traditional construction method consists of soaking the cane, possibly beveling the inside edges of the tube portion, folding it, placing three brass wires, and inserting (forcing in) a mandrel to form the tube. Then the binding is applied, usually string, followed by some glue or other sealant.
Generally this method works well. I made hundreds of reeds that way but there were always problems— splits, poor seal, and especially asymmetry of the two halves at the throat near the first wire. There was always the need to return to the mountain to watch the gurus do it right.
My personal experience, guru-wise, has been with Lou Skinner, Norman Herzberg, Philip Kolker, Keith Bowen, and Mark Popkin.
All of those gentlemen teach variations of the tra- ditional construction method.
There are even books written by the original Heckel Bassoon makers showing the same general steps. They called for lubricating the forming mandrel with
goose grease, something found in every bassoonist’s
kitchen in the 1830’s!
An alternate way of forming the tube portion of the reed is that promoted by Don Christlieb. These instructions show a variation on his method and a new method of binding.
The Christlieb method involves placing the soaked cane on a mandrel and applying many windings of a strong rubber band to the tube portion, then allow- ing the cane to dry on the mandrel for at least three days.
In order to prevent air leaks, Christlieb gives spe- cial attention to the beveling of the inside edges of the cane where the tube halves are to meet.
After the cane has spent three days on the drying mandrel under the force of the rubber bands, the
material has no more desire to return to its previous contour. Christlieb then binds the two halves together with four wires and applies a plastic material to the tube which hardens into a red blob. The reeds do not leak because of the beveling and because of the very extensive binding. By the way, his reeds play great.
In my method the cane is applied to a drying man- drel, but no beveling need be done. The tube edges are trued up against a sanding block after the drying period.
Okay, here is my recipe:
There are three main steps: First, the formation of the tube on the mandrel; second, the sanding of the tube halves against a flat surface; and third, the binding. You may form the tube per my instructions and then proceed to bind and wrap the tube in the traditional way (three wires, string and glue). Or for the full won- der of the UltraLyte style, you use only two wires then wrap the tube end with mylar (“MonoKote”). A tight binding is not needed because the tube has been properly trimmed to prevent air leakage.
The tools for the first step include a heatable
forming mandrel, preferably made of brass,
with a heat resistant handle. Mine was obtained from Pfeiffer many years ago. A gas stove or butane burner is nice for heating the mandrel. Christlieb Products sells an electric hot mandrel but I haven’t tried it. I use a heat- ed mandrel to only partially form the tube, then the cane is placed on the drying man-
drel. For the drying mandrel I have a great dis-
covery—it’s a “scratch awl” made by Stanley, (69-007), and is available at most hardware stores. I have six of them in case I want to have several reed blanks drying at a time. It is the right size and taper for this process. It is rust proof, and is designed with a flat side on the handle (to
prevent rolling). And it is also flat at the bottom so it can stand on your living room mantle!
I start with shaped, profiled
cane. I’ve had very good results
with Christlieb Cane, Jones Cane, and numerous others. Of course you can use your own home shaped and pro- filed cane as well. (I’ve even grown my own arundo
donax). Try to avoid shapes that are too narrow at the tube portion because some stock is removed dur-
ing the process as you will see.
Soak the cane overnight or until it sinks. Place the
cane on an easel to help locate the exact middle and lightly score the cane across at that point then fold it in half.
A temporary brass wire (the standard #22 soft brass wire used by most reed makers) is placed at the general location of the first wire—the
wire near the “shoulder” of the reed. I twist it on the side to remind me it’s tem- porary. This wire should be made quite tight because it will prevent any splits from extending to the blade. I learned that trick from Bob Williams (Detroit).
In forming the tube I have not found it necessary to score or cut into the cane as is often recommended for “damage con-
trol”. A hot mandrel steams the cane enough to soft- en it a little (if it’s done slowly), so major cracks or splits are rare.
Next, wrap the tube end with some butcher’s twine or a piece of leather (shown below). Heat the form- ing mandrel (but not to glowing) and push it into the wet reed for about an inch and wait until the sizzling stops. In fact, wait about 30 seconds—it gives the lit- tle veggie a chance to cook.
Remove the mandrel and heat it again. Wet the reed
again and reinsert the hot mandrel and push it so the tip goes well beyond the wire. Wait 30 seconds again. Don’t worry if you don’t yet have a perfect tube—the drying step will take care of that.
Remove the mandrel and the leather or string and wet the reed again. Now push the drying mandrel (the Stanley scratch awl) into the tube end a little past the wire until the butt end of the cane is about 5 cm. (2") from the end of the handle. This distance will vary depending on the width of the shape at the
IDRS JOURNAL 75
tube portion of the cane. 5 cm. works well for Christlieb cane which is about 6 mm. longer than most other cane pieces. The idea here is to push the mandrel in far enough so that after the reed is wrapped with the rubber band, the two halves of the tube do not touch each other. You will learn by trial and error the correct distance for each style of cane shape, but try to be consistent.
!
The reason the two halves should not touch is that you want the cane to form against the perfect symmetrical steel of the mandrel rather than be crushed against itself resulting in asymmetric distortion of the cane. The goal here is that the arch of the cane at the shoulder orfirst wire should be the same for both halves of the reed. This is one of the strong points of this construction method—matching blade contours.
Next wrap the tube portion of the reed onto the mandrel with a strong rubber
band. (I use the ones that come with the
mail or newspaper). Simply cut it and wind it from the wire to the butt. Make it nice and tight. Then tuck the end under the last turn to secure it.
Now let the cane dry for three or more days. You can make as many of these as you have Stanley
scratch awls. I always have several reeds in this con-
dition. They can be left indefinitely until you are ready to do the final assembly.
There is a little more work that can be done while the reed is waiting on the drying mandrel: Remove the wire after a day or two (or longer). and file a ledge to delineate the shoulder. A simple nail file works well but will need periodic replacement. Don’t file too much—there is no “undo” button to click. The sharp shoulder ledge is useful for mea- suring the length of the blade later when you clip open the tip.
Oh I know—many prefer to measure from between the loops of the first wire, but the wire can move. It’s a little like using driving directions that say “turn left at the dog”. The shoulder ledge will stay put. Also, filing away the slope that is usually present on machine profiled cane makes the reed play less stuffy.
Sometimes I find I have removed a little too much cane and when I later
hold the reed up to the light there is a clearish area near the shoulder ledge. Although I try to prevent that from happening, it does not mean the reed will not be good. In fact, one of the reed styles taught by Lou Skinner was his “Windsor Mill Window” which had an extra bit of cane intentionally taken off near the shoulder, which gave the reed a special playing quality, but I forget what that quality was! (Windsor Mill is the Baltimore suburb where Skinner lived before retiring to Maine).
Three days later...
In this step you will see why no beveling was done prior to forming the tube. In fact, the condition of the sides of the shape has been ignored so far.
Wet the tip area before removing the cane from the drying mandrel so that it will not be so brittle and break apart when you
unfold it. But leave the rest of the cane piece dry. Cut the rubber band and remove the cane from the mandrel. Unfold the cane and sand the two halves of the tube against a sanding
block. Use medium grit—
about 120. Press hardest in the area of the tube where the first and second wires will go (see arrow in above photo). Try to sand the two halves approximately the same number of rubs. Sand onto the blade about 1 cm just lightly.
The next photos show three stages of the process.
You will note that due to the sanding, the tube is not quite circular, but rather two ellipses—Don’t worry—it’s fine. When construction is complete the tube must be reamed. The main concern is that the reed be air-tight without the need for a tight binding.
5 cm
Carefully sand across the butt end of the tube to make it even.
Now apply the two wires. First apply the second
wire (or “middle” wire borrowing from the termi-
nology of reeds with three wires). This is the tighter of the two wires, but not so tight as to dent the cane. Position it about 1 cm. from the shoulder ledge. Then apply the first wire. All reed gurus try to have this wire applied as evenly as possible. Christlieb’s film shows him holding the wire with two pin-vises so it can be wound around the shoul- der area with even tension. Don’t forget—the tube has started to flair at this point making it difficult to apply the wire evenly by simply pulling and twisting.
The way Lou Skinner taught to apply the first wire is as follows: Wind the wire just above the second wire, snug it up a little, then shove it up to the shoulder with a needle nose pliers (or your thumb nails). Then just twist it a little more and you’re done. This has the effect of distributing the pres- sure of the wire ligature evenly, and it’s a whole lot easier than using pin-vises.
No third wire (near the butt) is used in my method.
My theory is that this wire’s main use is to force the cane halves together tightly to make it well sealed. This tightness contributes greatly to the prolonga- tion of the break-in period. Of course the cane hard- ens during the first two or three uses. But beyond that, there is the need for the cane to recover from the crushing it receives from the wires, especially the third. After a while the binding finally loosens up a little and the reed plays much better.
Norman Herzberg teaches that new reeds should be put aside for a few months if possible. In my opinion they need this aging-in to allow time for the cane to loosen up under the wires, especially the third wire. In the Herzberg method some cane is removed from the sides of the butt end of the future tube portion prior to inserting the forming mandrel. Then the third wire forces the tube closed. This manoeuvre helps keep the tip from collapsing but adds to the need for a period of aging. During this waiting time, there are many fluctua- tions in humidity which act like mini soakings and dry- ings. Gradually the cane becomes thinner at the wires and the reed plays more freely. My reeds do not need this waiting period. Period.
By now you have guessed that my method of reed construction relies on accurate trueing-up of the tube edges rather than brute force to create a good seal. Since the binding is not tight enough to force its way into the cane, no aging is needed. Sure, the blades will require some scraping as they harden, But they will play freely from the first use.
If you find that the reed tips tend to collapse, you can apply more pressure on the back end of the cane halves when sanding. This will give the tube a configu- ration that will open the tip more. Just experiment. It depends on the cane and the shape. The style of the scrape also affects the tendency of the tip to stay open.
Now the fun part—the mylar!
To apply the wrapping you will need a product called MonoKote. It is available in most hobby shops. MonoKote is normally used to cover model airplanes. It is made of mylar (which is clear) with a colorful heat activated adhesive on the inner side. It comes in many colors ranging from clear colorless to transparent or opaque colors. even metallic col- ors such as gold and silver or metal flake are avail- able. It comes on rolls that are about two yards long by 30" wide. One roll will last you several careers, but you will probably need at least one other roll of another color so you can make spectacular designs. If you know anyone who makes radio control model airplanes, ask him to save his MonoKote scraps for you.
Mylar shrinks when heated, but just enough to take out the wrinkles. It does not tighten enough to distort the cane, and it is not elastic when cooled.
The heat activated adhesive sticks well to soft woods such as balsa, but to get good adhesion to cane bark you should do the following: Lightly scrape, file, or sand the bark from the butt to the “middle” wire. Then apply a tiny dab of Duco cement to the roughened cane and smear it around. In fact, smear most of it off.
Now cut a small strip of MonoKote about 1/2" wide by 6" long (approximately).
You will need an iron (hot) to apply the material to the reed. You can leave the iron in its standing posi- tion leaving both your hands free. Tack one end of the Monokote to the cane at the middle wire with the iron. Then wind the material snugly along and beyond the end of the tube. You can use a mandrel to help hold the reed, but push it in very loosely so it does not force the tube halves open. Now iron the Monokote onto the reed and while it is still hot, press the material firmly onto the reed with your fingers.
Cut the mylar off flush with the end of the tube with a sharp X-Acto knife.
Now you might want to add a trim piece. Cut a thin strip of another color and apply it anyway you want. These pictures show additional trim strips of
white being applied over the candy-apple red to create a Barber of Seville reed.
You may have noticed I have not included any pic- tures of a clothes iron being used. That is because I no longer do it that way. Instead I use a
IDRS JOURNAL 77
MonoKote heat gun and a small Top Flite Trim Seal Tool. Both are available at the same hobby shops that sell MonoKote. An ordinary hair dryer will not do—it’s not anywhere near hot enough.
If you can’t stand the idea of not having a ball of string at the end of your reeds (John Miller says the ball gives the reed a good handle), you can apply string and glue and paint the tube, but with- out the third wire, and still have a good result. Make sure not to use any aliphatic resin glues such as white furniture glue or Elmer’s Glue. These are water soluble before they dry and will wick into the string onto the cane and glue the whole thing together so firmly that it kills the vibrations of the reed. Trust me on this—I’ve done it! In fact, that’s what gave me the idea to move towards a non-con- stricting binding. A coat of Duco cement on the string is fine.
Sometimes only paint will do the trick as in this camouflaged reed for combat gigs (above).
There are lots of possibilities for creative expres- sion. These mylar bound reeds are covered with chrome colored MonoKote followed by some words
printed on paper, then cov- ered with clear red MonoKote. You can put your name on there or an emer- gency message such as, “Help! I’m a prisoner in a bassoon reed factory”. I never have two reeds that look the same. It would be hard to remember which is which, especially when you have “too many reeds” as Loren Glickman once observed when he saw my desk!
Reaming is always required due to the distortion
of the lumen of the tube caused by the sanding. This is easily accomplished with the standard reamers available.
I use the Rieger and the Popkin reamers, shown above. This step is done while the reed is still dry. At this point the construction of the reed is com- plete but I will share a few of my thoughts on the final trim.
Clip the reed at 27 mm. from the shoulder ledge.
Whenever I leave the blades longer than that there is instability of this C# and single finger E.
I use the Popkin reed clipper. It is very easy to use