ston, send me your email and i’ll send you the chanter/reed plans.
I’m hoping, if I overshoot my $100 mark, to try to produce a matching (ie, all parts of uniform appearance), no pvc/no plastic full set for the price of a daye practice set.
I actually have spoken to david a few times about reeds and things and sent him my plans, so there is some information exchange going on 
)
Once I get my mechanism perfected for reg keys (right now just on paper) I’m going to go back and alter the plans to make a fully keyed chanter. I figure, why not go all the way.
I did have to make one modification, though, because I’m trying to stick to my own rules about no solder.
On the cap, if you solder the intake tube, it will look nicer and hold stronger. I used hot glue (mostly on the inside but some on the outside), and so after playing a bunch it became “wobbly” although it still held and was air tight. What I did was use the figure eight bandage wrapping from my emt class with the dental floss to steady the wobble. It still looks good (better, actually, than with the glue) and is holding plenty strong. I can pull on it and not wobble it.
Although, if, when doing the plans, you decide to go $15 for a low heat soldering gun it does simplify things, but unless I HAVE to use it anyplace else I’m trying to avoid the introduction of new materials.
As far as the reeds, the only one that worked but no longer works I broke trying to “improve” it (i’m sure all you reedmakers have been there). That was the oldest (and best, ::sniffle::), and had been playing well and consistently since april. I just broke it this week. The best one I currently have playing sounds akin to my tim britton reed, which i personally find a little harsh, and can be a little spotty in the upper octave until it gets going. it needs “improvement” i just hope it’s still running when i’m done with it tomorrow…maybe i’ll leave it alone and just make another from scratch. The whole process takes less than fifteen minutes.
Oh, and I eat the cream cheese. All of it. I love cream cheese. Funny thing is, I replaced one meal a day with two toasted bagels + lowfat cream cheese, take a walk every night, don’t go for seconds at dinner - and without doing anything other than those three things I’ve lost 15 lbs since the beginning of october, and I cheat on the meal replacement thing at least half the time. I’ve got 15 more to go. I’m thinking of calling it the antiatkins diet.
