Anybody know a reputable source for californian tube cane.I’m still searching the web for a source. I’ve been using French Var but wanted to try Californian cane. Ive been told its softer… Thanks… 
Thanks, Not quite what I’m looking for…
There’s only one person who harvests that stuff in any quantity, and that is Ted Anderson. You will not find it available for sale on the web.
Also, The California cane that has the great reputation for softness isn’t just any old cane that one can cut in California. It is painstakingly hand selected by Ted for its specific softness. Let me tell you, it is a load of work.
You can ask Ted to buy some from him, but to the best of my knowledge he only provides it to a few selct reed/pipemakers of great renown… there being not a great amount of it to go around you see.
Oh, and this is the stuff you are looking for…
http://198.170.235.206/text/cane.htm
It was’nt what I was looking for because it seems as though he does’nt have much of a supply, thats all…
Thanks, I like to try different canes , but I don’t have a problem using the French Var… 
The bassoon cane you have linked to above may be a bit too hard for Uilleann reeds… at least for my tastes.
i have some bassoon cane called rigotti,made a couple reeds from this,very hard,had to make the slips a bit thinner ,and the scrape is wider in a U shape,reeds play well.and are stable.
I also have some of the rigotti. Its harder than the French Var I have, but works…
As the man who showed Ted Anderson the Northern California Cane Fields of Plenty, back when we met in 1977…I have to say that the WET wet seasons and the cool summer temperatures for the last 3 years has limited the useful cane by quite a large amount.
Ted and I have been scouting fields out “in the wild” for many, many years since. For most of that time, (1976-2002)California has had recurring drought conditions, the Arundo Donax “sailed through” very well, in spite of these conditions.
In my opinion, as a California native, these recent weather changes, seem to be a return to the local weather patterns of my youth, that I remember from living here in the 1950s and 60s.
You must understand that there are no commercial growers of “WILD” California cane (THE GOOD STUFF). Ted and I have scouted out cane together, or separately, and we cut down the cane DRY and STILL STANDING. This means, that it has a Light Brown Skin Color, and the nodes are the same diameter,as the internodal lengths, with no skin wrinkles.
These stalks are usualy in excess of 2 years in age.
During this minimum time frame,
ANYTHING, (and that includes “Non-Native” Cane Abatement programs LOCAL and STATE, agricultural clearing operations etc.) and I mean ANYTHING…
can happen to the stand of CANE, and VOILA, no stand to return to, and check out, and thus, no harvesting. As I don’t OWN or RENT any fields to grow Arundo donax on, you have to THINK of all this, as a HUNTER/GATHER METHOD, or, as small subsistance farming, and a
LABOR of LOVE.
I THOUGHT YOU PIPERS AND PIPE MAKERS SHOULD KNOW HOW IT IS.
I invite you to take a trip here, to California, and scout it out for yourself, and HEY! Any CANE you cut, you can keep! Don’t forget to put on the proper postage when you ship it back!
REGARDS! Sean Folsom
Thanks for that Sean, I didn’t know about your role in the California Cane for Uilleann Pipes history… I’m glad I now do.
I’d love to have a supply of Arundo donax on my doorstep but I make up for it with Phragmites australis and Sambucus nigra. Very much a Hunter Gatherer process but very rewarding when you find some great stuff.
A lot of the Elder comes from former industrial sites near my home and redevelopment can trash my best trees over night. Fortunately Elder is tough and will come back even after severe treatment and be producing Whistle diameter tube within 2/3 years.
John S
Hi Mister Smith!
I was not the first person to ship California “U Pipe” Cane to Ireland.
I know for sure, that the honor belongs to Dan Sullivan (RIP), of San Francisco, California, and Macroom, Co. Cork. He communicated with at least 2 makers: Leo Rowsome, in Dublin, and Patrick Henley, in Chicago. Both of these men would send finished reeds back to Dan, and Dan himself, also made some reeds. When I first met Dennis Brooks, he was playing on a chanter reed made by Dan, and I remember that Dan had learned reed making from Paddy O’Neill(RIP), who might have shipped Cane to Leo Rowsome, as well. All these details are getting hazy, but I know about Dan’s info as I saw, and read some of the letters that Dan had at his house, as he showed me the reeds, in small cardboard boxes, along with the labels & etc. Paddy O’Neill, showed me some of the same material at his apartment. Because Paddy had poor circulation in one of his legs, he was an amputee, which happened some time in the 1950s, so he didn’t get around as much as Dan, who was in great shape, and was a very active senior. Thus, I believe that Paddy wouldn’t have been sending Cane, out to Ireland, by the time I met him, in 1973. Paddy might have been a Cane supplier too, but I can’t ask him about it, now.
Elder grows here in California, but most of it is too soft, so I go to Oregon to get the ELDERwood that goes through a real (WINTER) temperature change, which I believe, makes that material HARD ENOUGH FOR REEDS.
ELDER is great stuff, and makes good drone and chanter reeds. There’s not much Phragmites here, and the stands here, are really soft and granular (punky), so it’s useless, for reeds of anykind.
Now for 2 addendums: When I first met Leon Rowsome, he asked me to please send him some California Cane, which I did, in 1973.
When Paddy Keenan showed up in San Francisco, in 1986, he showed Ted and I the last tube of some California Cane, that Leo Rowsome had given him, in 1960. I can’t remember wheather it was myself, or Ted that said, “Don’t worry… we can get you some more California Cane !”
Keep splitting and goughing out that GRASS! yours, Sean Folsom
Sean Folsom first showed me about soft California cane. In the old days, we passed up on lots of stands of cane because the diameters were under 7/8". A lot of it can be used by those following the Benedict Koehler or Geoff Wooff method, which uses smaller diameter cane. We were looking for stands with over 7/8" diamter cane which is pretty scarce. Even then, finding cane with the desired softness was and is a rare event. I can drive a few miles right now and cut lots of cane. No one would find it very good for reeds, as it is as hard as French Bassoon cane or harder.
Paddy Keenan was down to his last tube of Spanish cane his father had gotten. He was very disappointed with the Spanish (Medir) cane he had tried in reicent years and wanted to throw in the towel. He tried some of my cane and found it as good or better than what he had been using. He still gets all his cane from me.
Ted
So Ted, how do you determine softness of cane in the field? Or do you??
Strictly by feel with the thumbnail test.
The thumbnail should easily leave an indent in the bark of the cane.
Thanks
I thought it was in the ‘wood’ not the bark. Wasn’t there also some talk not so long ago that to make an ideal reed some makers actually prefer hard cane over soft cane?
Cheers,
DavidG
Some do prefer hard cane.
I leave the mark in the bark. I see no point in taking the time and effort of hacking down a 20’ stalk of cane, cutting it into individual tubes (which could number as many as 100+), and testing the pith of each individual piece… that makes for a very long day in the intense Florida sun.
I use my thumb nail in the bark while in the field. I can tell the quality best when gouging. The right stuff (IMHO) the gouge slips easily through.
There are those that prefer hard cane. I do not. I find hard cane reeds overly bright. Those that like it are usually GHB players. I don’t like it too soft either. Most of the top pros I have talked to, prefer the softer cane for tone and , as they are not so thinly scraped, for resistance to environmental fluctuations. YMMV