Density Tester

Our bassoon colleagues have been testing the density of cane for a long time, whilst (us) oboists have been measuring the cane's hardness. Recently we have been receiving more and more enquiries about density tested cane. We took it upon ourselves to run a series of tests, and yes it works!

Jean-Marie Heinrich developed the density tester in collaboration with the Georg Rieger company. The machine was designed to not only measure the tube cane in its entirety, but also with the wish to get more complete and reproducible results than with a hardness tester.

There is actually a correlation between hard and dense cane, but a hard piece of cane is not always dense!

We recommend the following density values for Oboe:

• Low density: 55-61
• Medium density: 62-65
• High density: 66-70
• Very high density: 71-76
• Extremely high density: 77+

The values recorded by testing the cane's density vary greatly depending on the origin, harvest year, diameter and humidity of the cane. It is important for you as the reed maker to know that the different densities measured require different processing methods and dimensions when gouging and shaping. This will help reduce cane wastage.

The individual components of the density tester are made from high quality stainless steel.