In recent years more and more bassoonists have been profiling their reeds by machine in order to save time by avoiding the preliminary scraping to the point where the reed begins to play. This is progress. I believe that a machine can rough out the desired profile better than can be done by hand if the machine is properly designed and made.
But (and here is the "BUT" in the title of this article) the machines generally available are made more with an eye to selling the machine than to making a playable reed. The danger in using these machines is that even though the profiled reed is obviously still unfinished it may already be too thin in some critical area or else it is so badly proportioned that only the most drastic alteration will save it. Even some of the profiled cane available commercially (mostly imported) is too thin in some areas and entirely too thick in others.
There is a basic contour which the reed must have to play well. This basic contour can be varied (within limits) to make the reed easier or harder as desired; the dimensions can be varied (within limits) to make the reed sharper or flatter, etc.; but if the basic pattern is incorrect the reed will be a failure, regardless of the cane, the player or the instrument. In order to profile this "correct" pattern accurately the machine has to be made much more carefully and in a much more "sophisticated" form than are the available machines.
A machine designed and built in 1948 has cost me perhaps $2000 if I include the modifications and alterations it has gone through since. Even this machine, built to precision standards; using a high speed -- high quality motor, tungsten carbide rotary milling cutters, etc., is not suitable for the average bassoonist even if he were willing to pay the price for it. In order to use it successfully the player would have to become at least a part-time machinist.
To sum up -- The chances of getting a good reed are greater if one scrapes by hand in proportion even during the roughing out than if one roughs out the profile with an inadequate machine. If you must use such a machine be sure you do not go too far with your machine work. The reed may be hopeless before you ever begin to finish it. Happy Scraping.
Bassoon reed staple (brass) by Yuri Nekliudov (described in Vol. I,
No. 2)