Where do you all buy the cane for your reeds?
Jeff
http://www.uilleann.com/reeds.html
Scroll half way down the page. You can buy any part of a reed making kit that you want. I bought some pre-gouged slips… worked great for my needs.
I made a shooting block last night as well as a mandrel, practiced rolling a few staples, I just needed some cane. Hard stuff to find. Thanks for the link.
Jeff
A shooting block in my neighborhood is a piece of wood that props a gun and a string to the back door just ‘in case’ someone decides to enter while you’re sleeping !!
You can also get stuff directly from the NPU
http://www.iol.ie/~npupipes/Catalogue.htm#REEDMAKING MATERIAL
Check pricing as they’re listed in Irish Punts.
Hven’t Irish Punts gone the way of the Euro?
sad really…
hello,
I recently got a supply of cane from NPU and found it to be excellent. I’ve made five reeds with it so far and they have all sounded great. All the tubes are very consistent in quality. I didn’t specify tube size though, and they were all too large to use for flat chanters, but perfect for concert pitch.
Does anyone know of a source for elder?
By the way, Danu was just through here (blowing the minds of everyone) and Donachadh was using an elder reed in his chanter with cane in the drones and regulators.
take care,
Jordan
I buy my cane direct from a supplier called S.L.Medir in Palermo, Spain./ If you need full info., please mail me, I have his address somewhere. Its somewhere around £15 a kilo I think, and you get a load for your kilo… (I got greedy once and bought 5 kilos, It lasted 3 years, and thats as a working reedmaker and I gave heaps away!!)There’s also a fella in Sardinia whose cane I havent tried yet, but he sounds dedicated. The usual cane dimension is a 23/24mm diam., tube. I think, if bought from a cane supplier, its called A1 Special Quality 23/24… Its been a couple of years since I checked so I dont know the prices. If you’re members of a club, I suggest putting together and buying in bulk. Also, you can buy reed parts from Cillian O’Briain in Dingle, ready made staples and bridles, shapers, cutting blocks etc., I recommend Cillian highly ( I play his chanter, extremely reliable). Scrape scrape…
Regards
Alan
Alan,
Do you have a method for rating the firmness of the cane? In general terms, what do you prefer in chanters… soft, medium or stiff cane?
Tony,
I think it’s difficult to explain in words about cane “strength”, it’s a like the whole thing of reedmaking, there are set masurements to work from, but to explain how to form the scrape is difficult in words. Anyway, here goes…
I prefer a medium hardness, soft cane I think has a tendency to warp too easily and hard/brittle cane obviously has a tendency to split.Though good reeds can be made from all. (I’ve never gone as far as to see what happens over a period of time to a reed made of different density/hardness cane). I tend to first judge the bark, Smooth bark which is fairly tan in colour, stuff that is heavily striated (I don’t know the biological term)seems to be related to soft cane and I avoid, this is mostly because it cannot be controlled when forming the scrape later. An overall wall thickness of about 3-4mm (bark and pith) seems to provide a decent amount of density nearer the bark when youve gouged away the pith. If you can score the pith with your thumbnail too easily, then thats a sign of soft cane obviously. Finally, the gouge will tell me the state of the cane, both by sound and texture. If the cane being removed tends to fracture off the gouge, I expect a reed to be a bit difficult to control with the bridle as its stiffness doesnt spread over the whole reed and can have the tendency to crack (if it didn’t already when binding). If the cane feels “waxy” under the gouge, it seems to be as though the fibres are compacting because it is too soft. I’ll stop there as it looks like a load of old b*****ks from where I’m sitting. I think it is safe to say this is all debateable as we have all seen perfect “looking” reeds which are crap and vice versa. I even imagine sometimes I can judge cane by tapping with my fingernail!!!
Have you read Dave Hegartys’ updated reed book. He knows a great deal of stuff. From the old recipes of reedmaking that I have, I’ve never read anything about the quality of the cane. That’s todays waffle done!!
Regards
Alan
Alan, I started to get the new Hegarty book and got into other things and totally forgot about it. I do have Quinn’s Piper’s Despair but I want/need more information.
Currently, I have a stash of playable reeds from Ian Mackenzie and I’ve been able to avoid making reeds.
Just to get another topic started and perhaps find a solution..
Has everyone noticed that it is nearly impossible to find anyone willing to sell you a tenor-drone reed because most of the cane growers no longer carry reeds in that size? Is anyone growing reed in their backyard to solve this?
Dionys
re cane warping,i,ve found that if you split the slips out a long way in advance of reedmaking that it allows the cane to normalise.it also seems that the smaller diameter slips flatten out a little.anything that makes reedmaking easier is a godsend.it seems to help if you protract the whole process,split your slips and leave them,make your blanks and leave them for a week or more,dont try and get the best results from a reed on the day you cut the head down etc..
take your time reedmakers,it seems to pay off in the long run.
good luck,
allan
Did you notice how one of the reed-mavens tried to change the subject so he can corner the market on tenor drone reeds?
(Kidding)
Dionys
dionys,
what diameter range would you be wanting for your regulators?
i may be able to help.
tansy
I’m fine with regulators. I’m looking for tenor drone reed which I think is 4-4.8mm OD(3-3.5ID) and lengths of 45-57mm. I think those are the right measurements, though I’d have to check my book/notebook to be sure.
Dionys
re. heads splitting on tying up.
i took apart an ancient flat reed a while ago and i noticed that the unknown maker had crosshatched the tails by scoring them with a blade.i,ve done this ever since and i,ve never had one crack on me again.it gives the tails greater elasticity and used in conjunction with moistening the ends it seems to have eradicated the problem.
allan.
sorry dionys,i’ve had regs on the brain lately. i don’t have any small stuff as it all warped oval for some reason. i have gotten it from tim britton and david daye in the past.
good luck,tansy