AboutGeoffrey Bridge Expertise Professional oboist with many years experience. Former pupil of Leon Goossens. Solo artist for Arts Council of Great Britain. Freelance recitalist/broadcasting/orchestras. Former Head of woodwind teaching in Hampshire, England. Questions on repertoire, playing styles, reeds, cane selection and processing.
Experience Royal College of Music
Licenciate of the Royal Academy of Music
General Teaching Council certificate
Broadcast solo recitals/performed with major symphony orchestras/Music Club recitals
Expert: Geoffrey Bridge Date: 5/1/2008 Subject: oboe shaper tip
Question hello friend!
I am a oboe player from Albania.
A friend of mine proposed to sell to me 2 rieger shaper tip.Will this work for me?I play BC Green Line.Thank you for your help!!
Answer Hi erik
You have a great oboe in the BC Greenline. I use one myself, professionally, all the time. Superb in every way.
I think the Rieger #2 shaper tip would be a good match for the Greenline. It likes a big reed. By that I mean quite a wide tip with a good straight-ish taper. Albrecht Mayer who plays BC Greenline likes a Rigoutat -2 tip which is similar I believe to the Reiger #2.
The dimensions of the Rieger are:
tip of 7.25mm, 6.75 at 15mm, 5.65 at 25mm and the end about 3.5mm.
This is also similar to the RDG -2 which is good shape - perhaps slightly narrower than the Rieger #2 at the bottom. Make sure that you use a wide-ish staple too to accommodate the bottom of the shaped cane. Pisoni staples do work as do Rigoutat staples. These are the ones I use with my Greenline. Try a narrower staple such as a Loree staple if you find the middle C is little flat. These brings the pitch up a bit with a wider reed shape. You should get a warm sound with tip width of 7.25 but be careful that you don't overlap in the binding or go past the top of the staple. Mine works tied on at 74mm and cut to 71mm with a similar combination of staple and reed shape. I use Reeds n Stuff's "Berlin" shape which again is close to the Rieger 2. Pitch is 440 cps. If you need 442 cps then use a slightly shorter staple - say a 46 or even a 45 mm length. keep the cane length if you can.
