Reed Journal
There are many ways to make a reed. In your reed making career you will try MANY different things. The most important thing is that your reeds become consistent and you eventually (after MUCH experimenting) find a reed style that works best for you and your bassoon. One of the great ways to do that is to create a reed journal where you keep track to what you did to each reed and the result, so you can learn what you are doing that is working and what you are doing that isn’t working. I have a reed journal on my computer in EXCEL. My column headings (ie: the information I record for EACH reed I make) are:
- Reed number – every reed I’ve ever made has been assigned a number, starting with 1
- Cane type – what type of cane is it (Glotin, Rieger, Danzi, etc.)
- Cane source – where did you buy it
- Cane purchase date – when did you buy it
- Gouge – what gouger did you use or was it purchased gouged
- Gouge date – if you gouged it, when
- Profile – what profile did you use
- Profile date – when did you profile it
- Shape – what shape did you use
- Shape date – what date was the cane shaped
- Blank made – what date was the blank made, tube formed
- Tip Cut – what date was the tip cut and initial scrapping done
- Outcome – how is the reed
- Notes – did you do anything different during the reed making process that should be noted (ie: a new bevel tried, hand gouging before profiling, etc)
Learn how to profile, shape, or form tubes