Back D in the stratosphere

Uilleann Pipes
1

I’ll preface this post with a disclaimer: I’m able to reed my own pipes but I don’t consider myselt to be a reedmaker.

I’ve been asked by 2 people in the recent past to help reed their chanters. Both chanters were made by the same maker and both exhibited the same problem - a sinking back D and all other notes sounding muted. Nothing unique about that.

What was unusual was that when I adjusted the bridle on both reeds (and sealed a few leaks), the lower notes and higher notes improved in tone and tuning but the Back D went VERY high - we’re talking d’‘’‘’. In both cases, the reeds were the maker’s own.

In one case, I fitted a reed of my making to one of the chanters. The tone sounded good but the tuning (notably 1st v 2nd octaves) was not great. However, the back D played well and even accepted plenty of bag pressure before it broke.

What could cause the back D to go so high? Could it be in the reed/staple? Any thoughts?

2

PJ could you more clearly describe any differences you noted between your reed and the maker’s? Width at the head, length of scrape, shape of scrape (more U or V) rolled or tube staple. If you could use a small wire (paper clip) with a hook to (gently) check the insertion of the staple. L.O.A. etc.
Just the start of the laundry list :smiley:

Bob

3

PJ,

My guess when that happens is that the bridle is in the wrong place, probably too high up the head, making it act much stiffer.

For example, occasionally in a loud session i have raised the bridle on my reed to make the chanter louder, albeit taking more air, and have had to tape the D hole to compensate for the relative sharpening of that note.

Maybe instead in this case you should move the bridle down toward the binding, and open it using pliers instead?

Worth a shot?

A