Finished the Gouge…

July 4, 2011

Well, it took me a little longer than usual, but I finished my gouge, and boy is it a dandy. I couldn’t be happier with it. Last I blogged about it, I was happy with the opening, happy with the vibrancy, but not happy with the tone color.

So I thinned the sides. It came out warm as I expected but flat in the top register and the openings were too closed.
So I thickened the sides. It came out with the same warmth, and a little better in the top register and opening.
I repeated this about 5 more times, each time adjusting it just a minute or two with the screwdriver. until the opening and upper register was just right, and I still had the warmth.

So, that’s the usual process. Took me probably 50 or 60 reeds but I finally got it.

The main thing you need in order to adjust your gouge is just to be able to scrape consistent reeds. Scrape as you normally would until you can get the gouge pretty darn close to where you want it. THEN adjust your scrape accordingly. But you want the gouge to be catered to your scrape, not your scrape to be adjusted to a faulty gouge.