Some days, particularly during the warm summer, my D chanter sounds
louder, and some days (during winter) it is more quiet and duller sounding (I do keep a fairly constant humidity level). I seem to have to trade off volume for having the reed in tune.
Which do experienced players generally prefer - louder or more quiet
chanters? How can this be adjusted without affecting pitch?
Learn to make your own reeds. That’s the only real way to have one for every volume - tuning - pitch shift - humidity swing you might encounter.
I prefer a loud (concert pitch) chanter.
Opening the reed just a tiny bit will make it a bit louder and shouldn’t affect tuning much.
Some makers go for just that in a concert pitch set, loud AND easy to play, like mine.. 
Or.., buy from a good pipemaker.
One you can tell what sound/pressure/volume you want and he then makes you a reed that has all these qualities.
I, for one, would rather spend my time playing a reed an expert made, and i am happy with, then wasting a load of valuable practise time trying to make “the one reed”.
For instance.., I like a “squeeky” 2nd octave E.
My pipemaker doesn’t and wants a crispy one, i now have a reed that has both depending on pressure used.
Try to make a reed like that yourself after tying up 5 of them.. 
f.y.i. I DO know how to make a playing reed if an emergency would occur. 
You make it sounds like turning out a decent reed that play as you want it is impossible. SO not true. Spend a little time, and learn what goes in to making a reed do it’s thing. It’s not going to eat up tons of time. Spend an hour or two a week. Or less…
You’ll never know what sort of tone and playability you’re capable of until you try. And when you can do it yourself for less than $2.00 in materials, but have to pay any decent maker $60-$80 or higher AND you need to wait for them to get around to making it, AND you may need to ship your chanter to them for voicing…
It just makes much more sense to learn to make your own.
I did say, buy from a good maker.
One that doesn’t charge ridiculous prices for a chanter reed but makes one for free for his customers and helps you right away so you can continue playing because he, himself, knows how shit it is when you can’t play… (wrecking a LOT of reeds might make even this fellow hesitant to help out time and time again free of charge obviously)
A good maker can also send you a reed for one of his own chanters WITHOUT having to have the chanter there as he knows his work and his customers so he knows what to send you.
I agree that knowing how to make a reed is very handy indeed.
I also know tons of people that went to make their own reeds and never got to playing that much anymore. (nah, it’s not hard, it just takes a lot of practise and therefore TIME!)
Then they “show” you their “perfect” reed and it sounds like crap.
Often times these fellows will happilly offer to put their “uber” reed into your chanter as well.
Which, in my case, is an offense punishable by death!
To each his own, i prefer to have my reeds made by someone who knows what i want so i can play how i like.
Like i said before, i do know how to make a reed, i made some very good ones too.
They all died as a result to, “i made it, i can tweak it to death if i want.”
or “see what happens when i do this”
That is not gonna happen with a reed that does what you want already and/or payed good money for.
I also know of pipemakers sending out CRAP reeds AND charging $50.
Those should be shot imho as they clearly are only interested in money and not the instrument/players.
And exactly HOW many “good” makers have you worked with again? Since you admit to bunging up reeds you’ve made, they can’t have been that great we can only assume. But yes, there is a learning curve. However, none of the active reed makers in our area have found it to be nearly has steep or time consuming as you seem to make it out to be.
Again, the reed that is made in the climate it is designed to play in will almost always work better, sound better, and remain more stable, as opposed to sending off to someone half way across the country, or worse - around the world if you can manage it yourself.
And ask yourself in regards to cost: That $50-80 or however much a maker may charge for your new “perfect” reed :roll: … How long will it take you to earn that money? I assume that like most of us, you have to earn it. And generally, that means time at work. So in the hour or two or more you’d need to earn the capitol, you could have not only made several of your own reeds by then, but also have the experience and knowledge that goes along with the process.
Simply learn to make your own. It’s an invaluable skill and allows you come to know your chanter much better. Work with your current maker to get approx. dimensions etc. Most are generous enough with that if you’re playing one of their chanters.
Taken to PM.
…
I have avoided answering this previously because you mentioned that you keep a constant humidity. I’ve never been able to observe the effects on my reeds of temperature while the moisture in the air remains constant. However, you’re describing typical North American seasonal reed behavior. I’ve found that in a good reed, very small adjustments in the bridle will allow you to get a consistent playing pressure (and hence loudness) as the weather changes generally. I avoid messing with it when some unusual specific weather change is happening, like a rain storm in summer or an artic blast in winter. Again, the bridle changes (and the resulting change to the opening at the lips) is very, very tiny.
On the second question, here’s what I would say. A novice player – meaning the finger control is very basic – benefits by having a stiffer reed, allowing the notes to snap out with less effort. An experienced player is able to finesse the “plosive” quality of the note even with a mushy reed, and the combination of the two can help the overall tone. In my early days of playing, I had the opportunity to play Mick O’Brien’s and Jimmy OBrien-Moran’s pipes, and in both cases, I was amazed they could get such snappy playing out of such soft reeds. All I could muster was a mess.
Unfortunately for beginners and their loved ones, it also often means having a louder sound, which ain’t so hot when the musicality may be in question. Still, I think the responsiveness of the reed has to come before volume as a consideration. Once you are familiar with that “feel” of a snappy reed, you can begin to coax it out of a variety of reeds.
In my opinion.
Eric