Chiff and Fipple Forums

Is there a reed maker who makes spruce reeds, to order? If not, any advice on selecting a piece of spruce to get started. Any non-Facebook contact info would be appreciated.

A friend gave me some spruce which was salvaged from a piano. If you know someone who is scrapping a piano, that’s one option. Alternatively, if you know an instrument maker (guitars, violins, etc) you could ask them for off cuts.

If you can make cane reeds, you should be able to make spruce reeds. The dimensions of both are very similar.

Are there any good online resources on making spruce reeds? Obviously there's tons of info for cane, but I haven't found much for spruce.

Search the forum for an explanation of spruce reed building. I found an older thread very helpful.

Thanks PJ. That is good advice that has me thinking of some leads. It's been a while since I hit the reed bench and I'm generally happy with my reeds eight months of the year...giving it a go on my own might be the path forward.

booms8 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 17, 2022 12:26 pm Are there any good online resources on making spruce reeds? Obviously there's tons of info for cane, but I haven't found much for spruce.

There isn’t much online. There’s a FB page dedicated to reed making (cane and spruce) but it’s not terribly active. I’ve contributed a few posts on my experiences with spruce but I’m not a great reed maker by any measure.

I'm in that facebook group as well; some posts of people's results but no measurements or guidance on preparing slips, etc. I'll try searching older threads, and I'll update with links.

I just watched a spruce reed being made at the NE Tionol. The biggest thing seems to be making sure the spruce slip (ungouged) is made with the grain as perfectly following its length as possible. How to do that sort of thing isn't likely to be described for reedmaking online, but is very likely to be described online for other woodworking purposes (and in books!) After that its a pretty similar method to normal (though gouging is trickier and scraping mostly impossible, so more sandpaper work than you might use for cane). Two tips I remember is to leave the edges thicker as spruce has no bark so is deformed there easier (the whole outside shape doesn't need to be carefully formed before tying on the slip as, with no bark, it can be shaped afterwards if needed) and that bridles are a bit trickier as the spruce doesn't really pay mind to what the bridle is trying to do, so make your reeds so they need very little opening or closing pressure to play.

As for numbers, same as for cane was the advice given.

I've never made one, this is just what I remember from the class.

booms8 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 17, 2022 4:34 pm I'm in that facebook group as well; some posts of people's results but no measurements or guidance on preparing slips, etc. I'll try searching older threads, and I'll update with links.

I'm one of those who posts results

Regarding measurements, I've been using almost the same measurements for spruce reeds as for cane reeds. However, I've found that when preparing the slip, I get better results if I leave the spruce slip a little thicker than a cane slip. For instance, I'll usually bring a cane slip down to about 1.15 mm or 1.20 mm, but for a spruce slip, I would get better results from a slip of 1.25 mm or 1.30 mm. All other dimensions (width, length of the V, overall length, and the staple) will be the same as with a cane reed.

I'm one of those who posts results

Good on ya, good to remind people the group exists. Do you use a planer or sander to get the slip to the correct thickness before gouging? How do you shape the outside to get the curve you get naturally with cane? I guess what I'd like to see is in-progress pictures of preparing the slips.

booms8 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 18, 2022 10:25 am Do you use a planer or sander to get the slip to the correct thickness before gouging? How do you shape the outside to get the curve you get naturally with cane? I guess what I'd like to see is in-progress pictures of preparing the slips.

Firstly, the spruce I have is in small boards about 150mm x 100 mm x 8 mm. When I want to make a reed, I start by cutting a piece along the grain, about 12 to 15 mm wide (depending on whether I want a flat or concert pitch reed).

I round out the corners on one side, so that it sits comfortably on my shooting block. I use a straight chisel to bring the width of the slip down to about 2mm.

The rest of the procedure is like making an ordinary cane reed.

I'll gouge the slip until it's down to about 1.5mm. After that I start sanding on a series of blocks, each with a larger diameter. When the slip is down to about 1.25/1.30 mm, I'll stop sanding, cut and chamfer the tails and tie the slips onto a staple. I let the blank sit for a few days before sanding the V.

Is there a spruce reedmaking facebook group?