Found this
http://www.tartanthistle.com/Reed_Bridle_Bagpipes.html
Anybody tried this kinda bridle solution with UP reeds ?
Hi Piper Finn ! Ugh what a “High Tech” bridle to get snagged on something, and it looks like the WEIGHT of it would dampen alot of the lower half of the reed head’s vibration. I have been tying on two types of collars at the base of the GHB reeds that I make, for 35 years ! One kind, is the simple copper wire wrapped around like a neck-tie crossed over & tightened to a knot, and the excess ends, cut off with metal shears (sissors). I use USA 20 gauge copper wire (or, as I just measured with my caliper, .71-2 mm). I learned this from my years as an OBOE player. The 2nd way is a small collar ( out of sheet copper, also .71-2 mm. / USA.028" )like the one on the Irish Pipe chanter and regulator
reeds. These collars are in someway superior, but it takes more time to make them. Then you don’t have the wire knot, sticking up, either in the middle of the face / flat side (the one I use), or at the side edge of the reed
(which I do not recommended, as it has unequal force). I love the Galician (Spanish)
Gaita chanter reeds, with collars made from 2 strips of thin brass, the ends tied together with cotton thread, then the ends of the strips are curled back to keep the thread binding on both sides, tightly in place.
In My Opinion:
The wire or collar adds dimesional STABILITY, & CONTROL over the opening and closing of the reed head, which most modern GHB players try to control (if they bother with it at all) with a mandrel placed inside the staple, forcing the staple open, then if they go too far, crushing the staple back down, with PLIERS from the outside. This process is very hard to control and you really can’t see what you’re DOING, as it’s hidden inside the reed. I don’t know what “The Tartan Thistle” is charging for this “device”, but it’s far less expensive to do your own. Good luck with it ! Sean REEDS Folsom
I have just recently started adding a bridle to fine-tune my GHB reeds (22 ga. wire). After spending so very many hours with UP reeds, it just didn’t seem quite right without a little copper wire around it.
I also tried my hand at making one of those little GHB reeds… made a fairly playable one on mysecond try, but have not succeeded again since. They’re so darned small…
DJones
I think Sean’s onto something with such a large device hampering the reed.
I had a slice of surgical tubing on my GHB reed for a while and I wouldn’t want to put anything heavier than that on the reed. With advice from a professional piper that I got to for lessons, I just use a dental elastic. I’ve found that the tone brightened significantly.
I’m no uilleann piper but that device looks way too cumbersome for a UP reed.
My main idea was to find , if somebody developing something new this way ,not just like this…
but good replies indeed.
I used to use wire bridals at the base of reeds quit successfully but I stopped and now I use many turns of an elastic band, which I find more convenient.
John S