Hello everyone! I recently been having trouble with my chanter by X and I sent the chanter reed back to him so he could make me a new one. I recieved the pipes about 6 months ago and spent around $7,000.00 on them ( full set). When the maker was ready to ship them out I asked if I could have an extra chanter reed, and he told me that the chanter reed is guaranted and if it should not work in the furture, just send it back and he will make me a new one. Now I have a $7,000.00 dust collector all because of a sixty dollar reed. Can somebody tell why pipe makers have a hard time giving extra reeds when you buy their pipes?
Definitely an issue with the individual pipemaker. Mine always provides an extra reed at time of sale, and is very helpful when problems are encountered. That having been said, there are people who seem to think they have the right to an endless supply of free reeds, instead of learning to make their own. I can see how some makers might begin to feel put upon after a while.
Are you a new player? If so, why a full set? Just about every reference you will find warns you to start with the beginner set. If you are an experienced player, and can handle a full set, you should be getting to the point of making your own reeds, or paying the price if you want someone else to do it for you.
djm
i have always ordered my chanters with 2 reeds and never had a negative response from the maker. what if you droped one or it just split. always smart to have a backup for anything important and fragile.
hope you get your reed(s) soon, tansy
i didn’t ask for a free reed, i paid full price for the second reed.
I knew a piper that took his bass or baritone regulator reed and tried it in his chanter, and it worked better than his chanter reed. Most have smaller staples, and thus a flat upper octave, or lower pitch, and require some more thread, but it might keep you pacified till you get the other. Don’t let anyone on this board know that I ever suggested such a thing! And don’t ruin your reg reeds! 
DJM, I am a piper with about seven yrs experience. I own three full sets as well as many chanters etc. I do not make reeds nor do I know how to. Despite popular belief many experienced piper do not know how to make reeds. I got a chance to watch Liam O’flynn and I talked to him after the show..I asked him if he makes reeds and he said no. If his chanter doesn’t play.. o-well. He also showed me the reed in his Rowsome chanter. He said that Leo made it for him and he rarely touches it. The point I am trying to make is that when you spend over seven thousand dollars on pipes the maker should take the time and provide you with backup reeds so you will be covered. As hard as the uilleann pipe makers job is..it is still a business. I don’t expect free reeds for the rest of my life but maybe I deserve a new reed after only 6 months..right. I don’t mean to be direspectful but I wish I could play my pipes insted of just looking at them.
Thanks for the tip Lorenzo, I was thinking of that, but my reg reeds are bronze 
The bass regulator reed is a chanter reed on my schstuff…
It may have a slightly different scrape though, I haven’t checked.
IP, do chanter reeds from other makers work in your set?
Tony, reeds from other makers do work in my chanter, but they take alittle love to get them to sound just right. I do not have any extra reeds because they are all in my other sets and chanters. I don’t want to fool around with the other reeds because they are sounding great in their own chanters, I don’t want to upset them! 
What about buying an extra, exact-copy chanter from that maker? Voila, a spare reed! You can only play one chanter at a time and you’ll always have an extra reed handy!!
Reeds take time to make and set up properly. Expecting a neverending free supply is unreasonable.
I remember that Pat Sky advertised (in the early 80s) semi-finished reeds for a cheap price. Perhaps this is a niche someone could fill, in lieu of readily available store bought reeds.
A well made reed can hold together for a long time, too, as the Liam O’ anecdote above illustrates.
Paddy Moloney had a Leo Rowsome chanter reed for 25 years. He played two concerts in Toronto (winter); flew to Dublin; straight to RTE for a taping; the reed cracked at the END of the short TV performance.
Leo even made sure that the reed made it through the taping!
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Ah G’wan Kevin don’t be like that, if I buy a new car I ALWAYS demand a full set of spare tyres with it, that’s the least you can expect isn’t it..spending all that money
After 7 years playing, one should know enough about reeds to coax a reed that was decent in the first place to play close enough so that a set of pipes is not simply collecting dust…might not be perfect but would get you through until you can get another reed. Of course, some reeds go bad and won’t ever be playable. This might be the case here. But, you should know enough about them to discern whether the reed is truly worthless. Also, keep in mind that if the reed was made in the summertime then it may not want to work now…hold on to it as it may come back to life in a few months. Forget what Liam O’Flynn says…you’ve been influenced by his authoritative stance and should not make decisions regarding your very own universal approach to piping based on what he says. Clearly, that approach has gotten you into a bit of trouble! Plan to hang out at reedmaking table at a tionol and get some basic knowledge of the reeds. You owe it to yourself and the pipemaker.
I ordered a reed from Bruce Childress for the paki chanter I started on because the store (silverbushmusic) no longer carried loose reeds. I spent something between 60 and 75 dollars (i don’t exactly remember) for a reed that wouldn’t play in the other chanter. mercifully, the paki reed in the paki chanter sounded just fine.
Now, I kept the reed, and when I was looking to replace the chanter with a good one, I went to Bruce. I liked his business sense and the way he treated even a noncustomer such as myself with my silly request.
When I got his chanter, I tried both bruce reeds and they each worked equally well. I wish I could make reeds like him (really, because I have one of his chanters ;o)
Anyway, I’m rambling. I suppose my point is this, if I hadn’t the second reed first, I would have ordered two from bruce at the time of ordering the chanter.
Maybe it’s just the ocd in me, that I like to have six spares of everything, but i even tried to order a spare reed when i ordered the paki pipes, long before I’d even seen, held, or heard uilleann pipes. they strung me along for months before finally admitting that they had no reeds and could not get them. My initial foray into the land of making synthetic reeds was to reed that chanter with a spare.
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I will again state what I wrote earlier so Peter, and Kevin will be informed because they obviously can’t read. I asked the maker, (and out of respect I will not mention his name) if I could have another reed and he said that its NOT NECESSARY BECAUSE IF IT HAS PROBLEMS TO SEND IT BACK! Which means that I no longer have the reed! I am taking the pipemakers word for it so why would I pay for it with a smile.When you go to the dentist and he tells you that you have a cavity..do you think he is not telling the truth..same thing! As for KEVIN..you think my hardwork trying to come up with the money doesn’t mean a thing. I understand that uilleann pipe makers have a hard task, but I remember just 5 years ago full sets going for much cheaper than what they are going now. I am not saying that the makers don’t deserve it because they do, but in the last five years inflation has skyrocketed. In 1985 my friend bought a full set of pipes for one thousand dollars..2003 fullset = seven thousand..you do the math. Hey Kevin whats your address so I can mail you back your two cents…better yet I’ll keep it so I can BUY a new reed…I would’nt want to get anything for free…
As for Peter..When I buy a new car a don’t demand for a full set of spare tires..I demand for a engine in my car. Without engine=car doesn’t move..Without reed=chanter doesn’t play..any questions?
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Who is saving money..not me! I was told by the maker to break the reed in for a couple of months before making any major adjustments. After a couple of months I called the maker to let him know that the reed wasn’t playing right. He then told me to mail the reed back to him and he will make the adjustments. I have no problem paying for extra reeds, but when the one reed that was giving to you doesn’t play after a couple of months struggling with it, wouldn’t you start to wonder?
I don’t want my meal supersized..I just want what I paid for..and that includes the HAPPYMEAL TOY!
Hey, be sure and have him send you two reeds (or more) back while he’s making them. He probably just wants to see the reed to make sure it’s gone before sending out another, otherwise he’d probably just ship you another one, being already familiar with what you need and the particular pipes. As for waiting time, I wonder how long he needs to replace it. Depends on location, I suppose.