All,
I have been making bronze reg reeds lately with fairly good results. However, they are a bit brazen and wonky, and a bit too variable in pitch for my complete satisfaction. Is there a way to adjust this type of reed?
t
Is this a bronze staple, or an actual bronze blade to the reed? That would be extremely interesting.
Marc
I had some metal reeds on my regs at first, too, and they were pretty stable for a while. Then they went south and I don’t know why. I’m back to regular cane reeds in my regs. If yours are wonky, it may be that they’re too thin. Or it may be they learned the same bad habits that mine did, and have to be put down humanely.
djm
The blades are phosphore (sp?) bronze. The staple is copper…more narrow than most chanter/reg reed staples. I have gotten advice that the harder you burnish the blades, the harder the metal becomes. Softer blades may account for the pitch fluctuations.
t
WOW! I’d love to see one. As to burnishing, the metal may become harder but it will also become work hardened(more springy) and possibly more brittle. This hardening may also want to “bounce” apart from itself at the point where the blades meet, causing air leaks or wonky tone. If you know someone who has a jewelers rolling mill, they may be able to roll bronze or fine silver down paper thin for you. This is very interesting, and if you can p.m. me plans or post a few pics, I’d really like to see it.
Marc
I have bronze reg reeds in my Gallagher “D” set ( bronze blades, copper, or brass staple) and they sound fantastic!! Seth has some info on his webpage about bronze reeds..maybe this will help you out T..
…I could not find anything on Seth’s site about bronze reg reeds. The info I got was from the article in The Pipers’ Review by David Quinn. I also sat in with Seth at a tionol and was given a few pointers.
t
Ok..sorry about that. Good luck!!
This is the bass regulator reed from my Gallagher C set. I acquired the set secondhand, so I don’t know if this reed was made by Seth.
Interesting how functionality is realted to form…reeds still seem to have to look like reeds regardless of what they are constructed.
You might try a couple of wraps of telflon tape below the bridle, it seems to help the reeds to settle down. I have bronze reg reeds in the Gallagher D set (made by Seth) that I’ve been very happy with.
-Larry Dunn
Don’t you mean “bass regulator reed”?
David Quinn wrote about metal regulator reeds in the Pipers’ Review. The advantages were said to be stability and softness of tone. Patsy Browne was said to have made reeds from razor blade steel, when he worked at the Gillette factory in Boston. Rogge and another German piper, Rolf Kunzel, have made reeds out of steel Coke cans. Nutty!
Myself, I just adapt chanter reeds that didn’t happen. Maybe cut the staple a little shorter, or put some in some brass foil to shrink the staple volume. Reg and drone reeds are simple enough to keep working (I’ve been using the same ones for years); its these consarned chanter reeds that have to be just right to do their stuff sometimes.
That is exactly what I meant. Sorry about that. The offending characters have been sacked.
Sorry about that. The people responsible for the people who provided the offending characters have been sacked.
We apologize. The directors of the firm hired to continue this thread after the people responsible for the people who provided the offending characters had been sacked, wish it to be known that they have just been sacked.
Mind you, moose bites can be pretty nasty. A moose once bit my sister.
Hence the avatar, eh d?
Do your friends just call you dm?
Enough with the sacking already! I haven’t seen so much sacking since the Annual Sacking Convention held in Sackington, MN (with special guest “Sacky” the winsomely-sackable mascot!).
My reeds are pretty much mummified in teflon tape to handle the leaks. Yes, I say that to my shame. I see that the once-Gallagher reed has super-glue leak-application applied to the edges. Haven’t tried this. Quinn’s advice is not to bother with such treatments and, by jingo, I believe him! (actually, if he said “Tommykleen, I think you should pull off your own head” I would consider it).
Old chanter reeds are not an option for me due to their wide bores.
t
Fingernail polish, actually. An act of desperation. The plumber’s tape is covering a gap of about 1/16th of an inch where the edges of the metal are crimped, so they don’t meet. I haven’t been able to get this one working well as it tends to be weak and overblow into the second octave. The staple is chock full of metal rushes, presumably to get it flat enough.
The bronze reeds in the tenor and middle regulators are going grand, however.
Only me mudder. Everyone else just calls me “sir”! 