PVC reed instruments....

- reeds -

Greetings and salutations! ^_^

Today, let's go over a very interesting bit of instrumental creation - the PVC reed instrument.

Now, there are PVC saxophones, clarinets, or what have you - they are all basically and intrinsically the same in principle, except that they may differ in fingerhole placements, fingerhole size, and overall bore diameter/length.

Now, for today's little bit of experimental daring-do, you are already well equipped with the proper mathematical formula for finding hole placements according to note frequencies and such - if you are a newcomer to this website, please refer to the post what mentions this.

The part of this instrument that takes a bit of doing, is the creation of the reed.

First, before you decide to cut this to it's desired fundamental length (let's start out with a 3/4" diameter piece for this first one), cut it to about 4-6 inches longer. Now, you'll be wanting to cut one end at a sharp 23 degree angle.

Cleaning out all burrs, and sanding the edge all smooth (keep the edges sharp), go to the lower edge of this cut-off (the part furthest from the end point, but closest towards the opposite end), and bevel this juuuuuuust slightly more, keeping it flat. Do this in such a way that, if you placed a credit card in the flat of this bevel, then the card will almost lay flat across the ovoid opening of this end of the tube, but comes away from doing so by about a couple of millimeters.

Next, take a credit card - not a real one of course, but either an old, inactive one, or one of those "fake card" types you get in the mail as promotional example cards.

Cut it to shape, a shape matching that of the ovoid, slant-cut opening of the tube. You'll want it to match the outside diameter of this.

At the tube's slant cut end, that last part you slightly beveled, drill a tiny hole(s) that's just the right size for a tiny screw or two - the kind used for attaching the arms to eyeglasses and shades. You can find these most anywhere, even in those little "glasses repair kits" that you find in drugstores or dollar stores.

Make a similar hole(s) in the appropriate place in the section of plastic card you have cut out.

Attach the plastic card reed to the tube, with the screw(s) in the obvious manner.

Now, play a note with this tube, blowing on the reed as you would do with a saxophone, or a clarinet. For those of you who have never done so, blow on this by lightly pressing the reed and tube end together with your lips, until you get a sound.

Once you get a sound, now you can use the tuning methods, described in an earlier post, to find your fundamental note, and then, to find the fingerhole placements. Try making six holes for this first one, for a good, chromatically tuned piece.

That's all for today's post - see you all next time! ^_^

- reeds -