[Ondřej]

Hi,
This is probably most common problem, but I don't want to damage any reed which I have. According to FAQ section "reed is adjusted to the duduk by wrapping or unwrapping the thread in order to find the correct distance between it and the holes". However I also read this "You may be able to adjust the tuning by as much as a half step, but that is really pushing it".

Which way I should go with the reed, closer or further from holes if I want to tune it from G# to A? Anyway this is almost half step, I don't know if this tuning helps and I'm not sure about wrapping/unwrapping technique. I have 5 reeds and all of them have this issue.

Any ideas will be appreciated.

Thanks

[hrimnir]

Hello Ondrej

If you want to tune your A duduk ? from G# to A, you have to unwrap thread so the reed go deeper in the duduk, the opposite if you tune down.
It can be quite succesful, but it depends on the diameter size of the reeds base and the conic opening of your duduk. Since you have 5 of them, can I then ask you, who supplied reeds to you out of tune ??

Even if you should be lucky with the tuning, then you may have another problem over time, as the reeds tends to go flatter as they get older.

Which note do you get, when the reed is blown without the duduk ??

As I also had this problem, I just throw the bad reeds away, and luckily found a decent supplier.

Best regards Steen / hrimnir /geesmaildk on YouTube

This post has been edited by hrimnir: Apr 26 2010, 01:03 PM

[Ondřej]

Hello Ondrej

If you want to tune your A duduk ? from G# to A, you have to unwrap thread so the reed go deeper in the duduk, the opposite if you tune down.
It can be quite succesful, but it depends on the diameter size of the reeds base and the conic opening of your duduk. Since you have 5 of them, can I then ask you, who supplied reeds to you out of tune ??

Even if you should be lucky with the tuning, then you may have another problem over time, as the reeds tends to go flatter as they get older.

Which note do you get, when the reed is blown without the duduk ??

As I also had this problem, I just throw the bad reeds away, and luckily found a decent supplier.

Best regards Steen / hrimnir /geesmaildk on YouTube

Ok, I made some measurements and found this:

First (medium) - supplied with the Duduk: B1 (513Hz) - pretty wide, easy to play but the sound is not so good
Second (hard): C2 (530Hz) - easiest to play, beautyful sound, but little detuned
Third (hard?): B1-C2 (519Hz) - hard to play, almost no harmonics
Fourth (soft): A# (470Hz) - detuning very fast - 5 minutes of playing makes it open and unable to close
Fifth (medium): D2 (591Hz) - this one keeps tuning in all cases, but it is very hard to play and it has almost no harmonics

If you can tell me please some supplier of high quality reeds.

Thank you for your quick response.

[hrimnir]

Hello Ondrej

Thank you for your information about your reeds. If You play an A-duduk the reed blown by itself should be tuned to C, so the collection You have, is very odd, but is similar to the bad ones I have bought over the years.

The best you can do, is to drop me an e-mail send it to : Gees@mail.dk , then I can send you more details about, where to get the best duduk reeds from.

Best regards

Steen /hrimnir/geesmaildk on You Tube

[Dreamfullofzen]

Generally i need to pinch the reed abit to get a perfectly tuned A, otherwise it's slightly flatter. Same thing for the G#.. it's almost actually a G if i don't pinch the reed abit. This could be the case here..

[Ondřej]

Problem solved with mr. Dabaghyan's reed. This one can be tuned right and it looks smaller than my current reeds. Now I'm getting exactly A1 (441Hz) and minor F#. I also made my double-fine tuning system. With mr. Dabaghyan's reed, I CAN FINALLY START LEARNING DUDUK!

Very recommended.

PS: I have also tuned one reed from my collection - the 2nd with the best sound.
It is right, going deeper will result higher note, I should remember that.