My baritone drone reed has started to make the groaning and croaking noises when it gets less than a full amount of air. So anything from playing briskly to using the regs makes it cranky. It just started and I have a hunch that it’s got something to do with the weather, what with it being -15F out today. In any case, I have four options I usually pursue but am wondering which makes sense for relieving this issuew. The options are more or less tack on the tongue, moving bridle up or down. I’ve already tried adding a bit and taking a bit of the tack off and opening the tongue a bit more with the bridle, but neither entirely fixed the problem. My big question is which direction to go? More tack, less tack etc?
I know I could just keep trying to do little bits and see what works, but I have been doing that and it’s a hassle to mess with the reed over and over, so I could use some quick, yet wise, advice. I figure with the weather we’ve been having other might be having these problems so thought I’d post instead of going right to my gurus.
“Wait until better weather” isn’t what I’m looking for, though maybe what I end up settling with.
Great tips. Though here are two notes. It’s actually a hybrid reed - brass body with a cane tongue and the bridle is one of those annoying rubber o-rings. I really need to get some of that silicone tubing Ted Anderson is using now, makes minor adjustments a lot easier.
I also had a it suggested that I should check air tightness on the set. I’ll do this later today as with our weather lately this is really sound advice as everything has been loosening up. It’s been an ongoing battle with various bits flying off these past couple weeks and everything seems to get rewrapped at some point this time of year.
The croaking reed is a common problem. The idea is to get the drones to perform at the same operating pressure as the chanter. If the chanter reed is too easy to play then the drone reed must be adjusted. Or you can make the chanter reed harder and this will bring in the drones. Either way it takes patience to get them just right.
Keep in mind also that the harder the drones are to play the more stable they are. I would attack with a new chanter reed.