Jeanne English Horn Gouging Machine

The Jeanne Gouging Machine is a "double radius" machine, which produces increased stability in the reed. It is designed for the English hornist who wants to have complete control over his or her reeds, with the ability to personalize the gouge in order to achieve the desired qualities of timbre, response, pitch stability and tip opening. The Jeanne gouging machines were designed by Valarie Anderson, in consultation with John Mack, during 1992. The Jeanne gouging machines are built so that everything can be adjusted, allowing for the greatest flexibility. This makes the machines more expensive to manufacture as any engineer or machinist will tell you. But our gouging machines, like our shaper tips, are available only through direct sales from Jeanne Inc., giving a higher value at a lower market price.

The shape of the guide is critical to achieving the desired end results. The guide on the Jeanne machines has a modified curvature of slightly less than 14 mm with a slight incline from the blade, allowing the guide to hit the cane directly in front of the blade. Our machines have a minimal space between the guide and the blade to eliminate tearing problems. An eccentric bearing built into the carriage controls the manner in which the guide hits the cane.

The carriage of our machine rides on special linear motion ball bearings which in turn are fitted into the carriage eccentric bearing. It's the unique ball bearings that give our machine such a silky smooth action. The carriage of the machine needs to be level; otherwise, the cane can be pushed to the side of the bed creating an uneven gouge. We put eccentrics in the posts of the Jeanne machines which can be used to raise or lower the carriage rod.

The blade has both a depth adjustment to control the amount of cane removed with each swipe; and a side to side adjustments, which controls the rate of fall-off from the center to the sides of the gouge. The side measurements of the gouge can also be controlled by moving the bed. Both methods are necessary as the results are completely different. The gouge thickness is controlled with a simple set of parallel bars. There's a compartment built into the bottom of the base that stores a special wrench that's used to make these adjustments.

Each Jeanne English horn gouging machine is entirely set-up by Valarie Anderson to a dimension of .70-.55. If any further adjustments are desired, now or in the future, a complete assembly and setup manual is available for your reference.

Download entire Gouging Machine Manual