I had a reader request to see a closer picture of what a double reed looks like. I threw in some other stuff to show a few of the different stages which lead to the finished product. Starting on the far left you can see a tube of arundo donax cane. My source for cane is a man in California. He harvests the cane standing in nature only after it has died. Since it is dead when picked, the curing process has already begun but it still needs to be left to dry out completely after being cut, sometimes up to a couple of years. The other pieces show how the cane is cut, gouged and shaped into blades which are tied onto the staple (the brass tube) and vibrate when air passes through them to make the instrument sound. The copper strip wrapped around the blades is called the bridle and plays a part in the tuning of the reed. By moving the bridle up and down the reed head, or by applying pressure to the sides or top and bottom of the bridle, you can drastically change the tuning and performance of the reed. Some of the tools seen in the picture are the in-cannel gouge (for gouging the cane) and the mandrel (for shaping the staple).
