GS-What? A breakdown of the different available cane options and tools needed for reed making.
Have you been wondering what all these acronyms regarding cane and reed making are? Or how to find the right choice for you?
Fear no more!
Bassoonist Zachary Senick has come to the rescue to help you begin your reed making journey!
Stages of Cane Processing
The reed making process has five main stages to make a tube of cane into a finished reed.
Gouging, shaping, profiling, making a blank, and finishing a reed. Depending on what tools you own, you can select cane that has some of these processes already completed. This article will break down the first three stages and highlight what tools you will need for each stage.
A Note on the Brands of Cane
Cane is primarily grown in Europe. Its characteristics vary depending on the region where it is grown. Reed Supplies Canada sells cane grown in France (Danzi, Glotin, Rieger, and Rigotti), Turkey (Lavoro), and Spain (Medir). In general, a denser cane results in a reed that is more resistant and darker tone compared to a less dense cane, which provides a free-blowing, bright tone with more flexibility. Therefore, one can experiment with cane from different regions to determine what works best for their climate and personal setup.
A reedmaker should do research and experiment to find what type of cane is the best selection for their setup.
What is Tube Cane?
Tube cane is in its most basic form and has not undergone any processing. For one to purchase tube cane they need access to the following tools:
- Gouger: Removes the thickest outer layer of bark from the reed, exposing the more flexible inner layer that vibrates when we play on a reed.
- Profiler: Creates a consistent contour and shape across the blade portion of the reed. Each profiler has a different template it follows, with the ability to adjust the thickness. Some profilers will also create a collar, which is a defined point where the tube becomes the blade of the reed.
- Shaper: A mold that the cane is placed in to create a consistent shape for the reed.
The most common diameter of bassoon tube cane that is used in America is 24-26mm.
Bassoon tube cane is currently sold as a special order only. Please reach out to us for more details.
This process begins with taking a tube of cane and splitting it into three equal-sized pieces. This is achieved through measuring and marking out the distances with a pencil, which is then held vertically with a knife that is pounded down often with a rubber hammer into the tube to begin a breaking point. This process is continued with the other markings until the tube breaks apart into equal pieces.
The pieces are then clamped into a gouging machine where a blade is pushed or pulled across to remove the inner layers of cane to produce a consistent thickness and shape. This is done in either an eccentric or concentric gouge to determine the desired proportions of the thickness across the piece of cane. An eccentric gouge means the cane has a thicker center that gradually gets thinner towards the sides, while a concentric gouge has the exact same thickness across the entire piece. An eccentric gouge is more common as it creates a spine to the reed that assists in the stability and control of the tip of the reed.
Bassoon Gouging Machine by Rieger, available for special order.
Gouged Cane
Gouged cane has the step explained above already completed. You will need to own a profiler and shaper to work with this type of cane, however it is possible to do it by hand.
Gouged cane is ideal for a bassoonist who has a couple of years of experience making blanks already under their belt and now wants to have more control and experimentation with their reed making.
You can view our current gouged cane offerings HERE.
Note: When working with gouged cane, shaping (explained in the next section) is done before profiling the cane.
Profiling Bassoon Cane
A profiler has a blade that glides across the cane from one end to the other to scrape a contour by going up and down the cane in small increments, moving horizontally after each pass. The contour created gets thinner the closer it gets to the middle of the piece of the cane, which will become the tip of the finished reed.
Bassoon Profiling Machine by Rieger, available by special order.
Tip Profiler
A tip profiler is specifically designed for the tip of the reed and is used at the start of the finishing stage after the reed has been formed into a blank. The reedmaker will then clip the tip to their desired length and use a tip profiler to scrape down the very front portion of the reed. This is an optional machine. It is very common for bassoonists to scrape the tip by using sandpaper and a knife.
Gouged and Profiled Cane
If you’re not ready to invest in a gouger or profiler yet, but are ready to experiment with using different shapes, then gouged and profiled cane is for you.
You can view our current gouged and profiled cane offerings HERE.
Shaping Bassoon Cane
Shaping involves placing the cane in a mold and running a razor blade or knife along the sides to trim the excess cane down to a specific shape. There are two main kinds of shapers: straight and folding.
- Straight Shaper: The cane is slid into the middle of two pieces of metal that are a mold of the desired shape. The two pieces close down on the cane by clamps that are tightened to hold the cane securely in place. The reedmaker then uses a knife or razor blade to cut off the excess cane that is hanging out of the shaper.
Fox 2 Straight Shaper by Fox Products, available for special order.
- Folding Shaper: The cane is placed on a metal tongue and folded over it with two arms that are rotated over the cane and clamped down to secure the piece in place. The excess cane hanging off the metal tongue is then cut off to achieve the desired shape.
Folding Shaper by Rieger, available for special order.
There are a wide variety of shapes available on the market. Each with its strengths and weaknesses. A reedmaker will want to experiment to find the shape that suits their style best. RSC has a variety of Fox straight shapers and Rieger folding shapers available for special order.
Some common shapes include: Christlieb, Fox 2, Herzberg, and Rieger 1A.
See below for more information about the different shapes of cane.
Gouged, Shaped, and Profiled (GSP) Cane
Gouged, Shaped, and Profiled (GSP) cane has already gone through all of the stages listed above. It requires the least amount of processing (and tools), allowing you to begin forming the cane into a blank right away.
Reed Supplies Canada sells a variety of GSP cane, allowing you to find the best match for your playing style.
You can view our current GSP cane offerings HERE.
How Do I Know What Brand of Bassoon Cane to Buy?
The most important thing to pay attention to when buying GSP cane is the shape. The majority of shapes are named after prominent bassoonists who developed their own style and passed it on to their students, or are named after the companies that invented those shapes.
Here are four common shapes to get you started, from widest to narrowest:
- Christlieb
- Fox 2
- Rieger 1A
- Herzberg
Each shape has its own advantages and disadvantages due to how wide or narrow the overall shape is. This will affect the pattern and proportion of the scrape and profile of the reed, which will affect things such as darkness or brightness of tone, articulation, and pitch. In general, the higher the number means the wider the shape will be, especially at the tip of the reed. If you are interested in specific dimensions of shapes, check out a wonderful page with diagrams of many different shapes of cane at our friend Barton Cane’s website.
Scored Cane
Scoring the cane is one of the first steps in making a blank reed. A reedmaker uses an X-acto knife across the bark of the tube portion of the cane to create shallow cuts into the cane. This allows pressure points to be taken off of the center of the cane to allow cracking to occur off-center and not ruin the reed by going directly down the center into the blade of the reed. A crack down the middle of the reed makes it unplayable due to air escaping, forcing the reed to not seal properly.
Some manufacturers sell pre-scored GSP cane to save you a bit of time. Rieger offers both scored and unscored cane, and Barton's cane is always scored.
What To Buy First?
We recommend trying out Barton GSP as it is profiled to dimensions that are fairly close to a finished reed and will not require much scraping for it to become a finished reed.
Summary
A bassoonist will start out their reed making journey using GSP cane. This will allow them to become familiar and comfortable with the forming and scraping process before branching out to the other stages. This is also an ideal approach to allow one to slowly gain experience while they accumulate the tools and machines in a systematic approach, slowly over time, rather than having to invest in all of the tools at once.
Have questions about anything in this article? Leave a comment below or reach out to us via email at info@reedsuppliescanada.ca.