Bevel: Making the two pieces of cane meet at a 45 degree or flush point, no corners or perpendicular edges.
Blade: The front of the reed. The portion that goes into your mouth. The blade usually starts 1 and 3/12 inch in length from collar to clipped tip then is shortened as needed.
Cane: Arondo Donax plant that bassoonists use to make reeds. It is a grass like fiber. It grows in a tube similar to bamboo.
Collar: Where the vibrations will stop. It is the place where the blade and tube meet. Also the place where the bark ends and begins.
Dowel: A curved wooden object the piece of cane can rest on.
Gouge: Only the cane closest to the bark of the plant is used in reed making. Gouging is the process of scrapping off the inside of the tube which is not needed for the reed.
Pre-Bevel: Taking the corners off the very back of the tube.
Pre-Gouge: The cane comes in a tube off the plant, when we pre-gouge we split the tube into four pieces lengthwise.
Profile: The blade of the reed does not have any bark on it. We removed the bark on that part of the cane and call it a profiled piece of cane.
Score: To cut sraight lines into the bark where the cane will crack when it is made into a round tube.
Shape: The cane is a rectangle after the pre-gouge. We cut off the sides of the cane to conform to a metal predesigned form (called a shaper) to make the cane into a reed shape.
Throat: The area of the reed between the first and second wires. It is the first area of the tube.
Tube: The back end of the reed. It is the round portion of the reed that goes on your bocal and has the wires and wrapping on it. The tube is between 27-30 mm in length.
Learn how to profile, shape, or form tubes