ive just bought a second hand practise set made by brian howard. The sets in excellent condition but dosnt play too well as the b, c in the 1st octave and the back d are out of tune(flat). I thought that if i inserted the reed deeper into the neck of the chanter it might sort this but it has`nt. Is there anything i can do to adjust the reed to get the notes mentioned in tune, or should i return the chanter to the maker for a new reed?
Firstly, Brian is an incredibly friendly and approachable guy, but he likes to chat on the phone for a while so maybe email him if you don’t want a huge phone bill. I get my cane tubes from him and found his ‘ready-tie’ reeds quite reasonable when I tried a couple out.
With regards to your problem with the reed, the C# and back D should typically be corrected with deeper insersion and I find this the best solution when I the second octave is also a little sharp. However, I normally prefer to raise the bridle or open the reed a bit to fix this problem. The side effect of both methods is that the second octave might become harder to hit and opening the bridle will make the reed harder to blow overall. I have also found that raising the bridle flattens the first octave A a little more than opening the reed does. Another possibility is that the reed is a little weak (too thin), but that would require an experienced reed maker looking at it to determine whether that is the case or not.
I suggest trying bridle adjustments and calling/emailing Brian if you continue to have problems. I can’t offer specific suggestions to correct the flat B unfortunately.
Good luck.