Question promted by the appearence of a french bagpipe on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=290321981705)
Has anyone tried fitting the uilleann pipe drones with double reeds ?
John
I´ve played once a delrin mouthblown smallpipe with double reeded drones.
I have experimented, as i’m sure many others have, with tying regulator keys open to create drones of a sort, but as you can imagine they sound nothing like conventional drones - a much smoother sound, less buzzy.
What the hell are you thinking, anyway?! Haven’t we got enough double reeds to trouble and confusticate us without adding three more?
Alexander Ross of Invernesshire patented a variation of the highland pipes with double reeds in the drones in the 1920s. A picture and the patent can be seen here
http://www.thebagpipeplace.com/museum/page150.html
The drone bores were smaller than regular highland pipes and it may be that to get a double reed to work in uilleann pipes you would need a narrow bore (or large reed).
Ian
The French Musettes da Court have double reeds in their drones. They are but “shuttle drones”. What Ian Lawther writes goes here, too: The bores are very narrrow (and the reeds therefore are tiny).
IMO double reeds for just one note would in fact cause less problems.
The Taylor’s multiple bored regulators show that one reed per note works very well. Chris Bayley explained that multiple double reeds, or even a mixture of single and double reeds can work in the same stock, but it depends on the air supply. Maybe he could explain further?
I don’t imagine that double reed drones sound anything at all like single reed drones? Does anyone have experience of them?
It’s an integral part of the uilleann sound, isn’t it, the humming of the drones, and it’s what has earned them various comparisons with bees over the years.