Reed Gouging Machine c. 1840 - 1850

This is a reed gouging machine made by Guillaume Triébert, probably in France, sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. It is made of wood and metal. In this period, instruments like the oboe or bassoon were undergoing many technical changes, but they still relied on carefully shaped reeds made by hand. The machines that emerged to assist in reed-making speak to the growing industrialization and standardization of music-making. Before this, musicians would have made their own reeds using knives and other hand tools. A machine like this represents a desire for greater precision. The history of instruments is intimately tied to economics and the industrial revolution. By studying sources such as instrument-makers’ catalogs, we can understand the social conditions that fostered these inventions. In this way, we can interpret art, and even machines like this, as meaningful historical artifacts.