Does any one know where to get afordable cane for drone reeds?
I’ve contacted medir but his prices are very high. 80€ for about 100 pieces (4 to 7mm in diameter).
Nick
The problem is that the market is so small, and many of the cane suppliers don’t feel it is worth their time to harvest these smaller diameters. It may well be worth your while to start considering artificial materials for your drone reeds, unless you are dead-set on using cane.
djm
I totally agree here. One, composite reeds tend toward being much more stable than cane. Two, they’re easier to obtain than cane drone reeds. Three, the materials you’ll need to make them can be easily found and purchased for far less than ordering cane from a merchant.
Go for elder (Sambucus nigra)! It should grow all over the UK, and as opposed to cane, the smaller diameter branches are easier to find. Its a little more trouble to make the reed, but the sound is worth the trouble. On the minus side, they are more unstable than composite reeds. I’m working on a composite reed that uses a elder tongue.
dave boling
The world’s your oyster when you consider the variation of materials one can possibly use for drone reeds… experimentation with these materials could bring about pleasant returns. Food for thought.
If you are going for Elder, then you need to find and cut it now - before the sap starts to rise as Spring approaches. The drier the wood before you begin, the better the stability in the long run.
I’m just wondering if others have any tips on elder drone reeds. I harvested some over Christmas in Ireland, think I got some nice stuff. In elder, external and internal diameters don’t necessarily correlate well - I got some big-internal-bore twigs, fairly similar in dimensions to what you’d expect of cane.
Having stripped the bark, and cut a few tongues (you do have to cut the tongues, rather than just cutting the top and snapping the rest, like in cane), I find they’re not terribly springy. Do they need to dry more, or do I need maybe to shave the base of the tongue and weight the end? Any tips appreciated.
-Frank
I think Benedict Koehler has some experience with these. He lives out your way (making wide, sweeping gesture with hand), somewhere near the east coast. Vermont, Boston, they’re all in the same neighborhood, right? We call them the “fly-to lands”.
T
I’ve contacted medir but his prices are very high. 80€ for about 100 pieces (4 to 7mm in diameter).
Perhaps it is time to book yourself a winter sun holiday in Spain / southern France and pick your own.
John 
Elder drone reeds, in my (very limited!) experience, do need to be shaved at the bases and weighted on the tongues. All the original examples I’ve seen had these features.
There are two schools of thought on making the tongues; Ken McLeod reports more success cutting the tongues green and then waiting for the reeds to season; other people report that the elder qullls need to be dried/seasoned for some time and then the tongues should be cut. In any case, it doesn’t seem practical to cut the shoots and have a working reed soon after; at some point the shoot needs to be carefully dried to ambient conditions, either before of after the tongue is cut - before making it into a working reed.
0.80 euro seems OK for good cane drone quills IMO, considering their scarcity.
Good luck!
Bill
Hey Mr Kleen, there is a school of thought, voiced in this very forum from time to time, that most parts of New England are suburbs of Boston. Providence, RI was recently mentioned as one example. Indeed, a man of your erudition is probably already aware that one Oliver Wendell Holmes went so far as to suggest that the entire universe consisted of nothing more than Boston and its surroundings, referring to Our Fair City as the Hub of the Universe. Next time you’re here, we’ll have to stop for a drink at The Top of the Hub (an actual restaurant).
I’ll stop by BK’s house as I drive my spaceship home from the office tonight…
-Frank
I’m really into cane reeds. I think that the sound is much nicer. I can make an attempt to do a composite reed.
Nick
He’s right y’know!
As there is a percentage of waste cane when you buy drone or chanter cane, you can always practice on the crap pieces. i.e. if it’s bent/warped, just practice cutting the tongue, you’ll be able to get 2 tongues per piece, if you sellotape/glue up one tongue and make a cut on the other side.
In fact you can do this with a good piece too,.
I’m pretty sure one of my drone reeds has an poorly judged initial cut glued over, and has been playing for over 3 years no problems (as have the other 2).
Last time I bought a batch of drone cane I went 1/2s with someone.
I agree with mike, 
you should be out now cutting elder now, its all free, I’m going out this week for a couple of days cutting, you can mix cane and elder, 
I use a peice of honeysuckle with a 3mm bore in the tenor drone, plays away lovely and not to loud like cane is, I’m useing a cane reed in the baratone drone, and elder in the bass drone, once you’ve got your reeds stable and settled in, try and leave the reeds a lone, try and get a bit of moisture in the air when playing if you can, try playing in the kitchen,put a pan of water on the stove or cooker on low, it will sure keep the reeds
playing longer, 
all the best.