Hi everyone,
I am a relatively new piper living in the Pacific Northwest. Recently I have been learning how to make reeds as well as playing them. It has been… an experience. I still have a lot of practice to do, both reed making and playing. I wanted to try to contact the pipe maker Brad Angus to potentially get some instruction on reed making. I sent him an email about a month ago but have not gotten a response back from him. Has anyone here interacted with him recently?
Thanks!
I just received my B set (now a 3/4 set) back from Bad a couple weeks back so I know he is still around. He’s slow to respond on email in general, but might be worth reaching back out.
In general, just around the time I have forgotten I emailed him I get a response back.
Thanks for the information, thats good to know.
I recommend giving him a call. His # is already posted here on C&F, so I don’t feel inappropriate posting it again: 360-699-4409. Let it go to message, and he usually picks up or will call back.
Yes, I spoke with him on the phone last week. Dunno what you’ll learn on the phone. Brad rolls copper staples, tapered blades, bridles at the base - your usual flat pipes/Rowsome stuff. I think you can pick it all up from Quinn’s book, throw in Hegarty’s too, that shows you stuff like making a tapered rolling mandrel out of drill rod with an electric drill, IIRC, also lots of handy troubleshooting advice.
Where are you, ATP? At the tionol in February I was told they were down to one reedmaker in the Seattle area - Wally Charm - who’s the ripe young age of 91.
Anyway I’ve retired from reedmaking, too, I gave Brad all my cane.
I am closer to the Portland area, but I dont know many reedmakers near here.
Where would I find the books you are referring to?
Preston Howard Wilde is in Vancouver, he used to make reeds but is busy being a dad these days. Great piper, though. You could catch him at TC O’Leary’s on a Sunday and pick his brain, at least.
Those books are:
David Quinn - The Piper’s Despair
Dave Hegarty - Guide to Reedmaking
Someone here said they got the Quinn book from Nick Whitmer in 2019 - nwhitmer@livesofthepipers.com Maybe he still sells them. Or you could contact Quinn/Ben Koehler themselves, however you do that.
NPU don’t seem to stock the Hegarty, but have Paddy O’Hare’s book instead: A Guide to Reedmaking for the Uilleann Pipes - Paddy O'Hare — NPU Online Store He learned from Hegarty, among others. And NPU have videos, too.
You can download the Hegarty book here for free.
Tommy