chanter tuning question

Uilleann Pipes
1

just got a new reed and am a wee bit perplexed about doing the fine tuning. my A and B are flat but my high D is sharp, what to do? incidentally all other notes are near spot on. as you might guess I’m a novice player but play border pipes so steadyness isn’t an issue and the reed itself seems fine(as far as I would know). Thanks for any advice!!

2

You could sink in the reed to sharpen the A & B and then tape the back D. Back D may flatten after playing a bit. Careful to keep octaves balanced when pushing in reed to tune A & B, though slightly sharp 2ve A & B is possibly OK.

3

Having the High D naturally sharp is a good thing I always find as a bit of tape works great for fine tuning and can be adjusted easily. As long as it is not covering too much of the hole as this will cause it to become weak. Usually the High B is sharp with most reeds if they are very flat the Staple may need to be moved slightly in. But like everything with pipes this will have an effect on other notes…and I would strongly recommend not to try this yourself.

As said above try sinking the reed slightly. This is the easiest change to make as it’s easily reversible! Try and maintain a satisfactory compromise when tuning. Your pipes are NEVER going to be perfectly in tune it’s just a matter of adapting the way you play and general tricks to give people the impression that you are in tune…

4

Now when you say B is flat, I have two questions:

  1. is only Low B flat, or also High B? Because as was pointed out above, there’s usually a seperation between the two, often around 20 cents or sometimes 30 or 40 cents.

  2. flat to what? If you mean that Low B is flat to the Equal Temperament built into an electronic tuner, keep in mind that uilleann pipers often have Low B tuned a bit flat of that, more in line to what’s called Just Intonation.

B is a Major 6th above the D drones, and in Just Intonation should be 16 cents flat of where it is in Equal Temperament (what an electronic tuner says).

When Low B is around 14 to 16 cents flat, High B is usually more or less “in tune” as far as Equal Temperament goes.

I don’t have my Low B that way, however. I have my Low B tuned to the Equal Temperament position because I’m always playing along with guitars, keyboards, etc which are all in Equal Temperament.

Low and High A should be just about where they are in Equal Temperament (what an electronic tuner reads), a hair sharp actually.