Hmmmmmmmmmmm…
How many out there believe that Britton bores on Pakistani-made chanters are really good instruments?
Wonder why Mr. Britton and the kind folks at Mid-East Mfg have not struck a deal to ensure that the “Paki Pipes” as they’re called have been redesigned to ensure a better product?
… overheard conversation between factory and music store…
“What do you mean they don’t SOUND good?? I thought you only wanted movie props!!”
according to tim, he is in the process of working with them to improve their design. he said they’ve done some of the stuff he suggested, but my pipes took much longer than he initially thought which he attributed to the manufacturer not listening to alot of what he suggested.
just an update: I made a chanter based on david daye’s design, although much simplified. It is made entirely of brass tubing (no pvc) and uses a nesting design on the same principle as the penny chanter. I based the bore and fingerholes off my childress chanter. I couldn’t test it using a chindress reed because I’d have to take apart some of his binding and I don’t want to screw up a good reed, so I tested it using the reed from my britton chanter and it actually sounds nicer with it than that chanter does. I just used that to get a feel for tone, which wasn’t bad, on the whole. That reed, however, is clearly designed for a different bore and will not work in a childress replica.
What to do? how to tell if it’s in tune… well, I won’t know until I build a reed specifically for it (which i’m working on doing out of cane), but the childress chanter responded to the britton reed the same way that the tubing chanter did, so I’m fairly confident (in a preliminary sort of way) that it will play in tune with a reed similarly constructed to bruce’s. There’s only one way to know for sure, though. David Daye does say in his penny chanter instructions to expect that the penny chanter will mimic both the good and bad characteristics of the chanter after which it’s modeled, as the telescoping tubing does seem to produce a faithful replica of a chanter just not in timbre.
Once I get this working I’ll post pictures and instructions.
it does play in tune…but i’m having two problems with the reedmaking.
How many reeds have you ever made? Out of maybe 70 or 80 reeds that I’ve made, only about 4 would I consider good enough to play in public (around other pipers), and out of those four only one was remarkable, and it wasn’t anywhere as good as the ones I now have made by a pro reed makers.
I think it was Patrick Sky who said something like he’d made about a thousand reeds before he got comfortable with the art, and even now, after several thousands, he still doesn’t understand them completely.
Be sure and use SEARCH above to study the archives. Lots has been written on reed making and trouble-shooting. Oh, and remember…if it doesn’t overblow into the second octave, you don’t really know if it’s in tune yet.
very true about knowing if it’s in tune - but it’s close enough that if i need to adjust by filing the holes i can.
I’ve only made about 15-20 attempts and less than five in cane so far.
Are you saying you were able to prototype a brass tubing chanter in less than four days that uses a Britton reed and sounds better than the britton chanter?
not quite. it’s not a britton chanter (it began life as a pakistani one) and the reed is therefore not a britton reed for one of his usual chanters. note, the reed didn’t “work” in the prototype, but it allowed me to see what kind of sound it would make and i thought it sounded nicer than that rebuilt chanter (see my complaints about it earlier).
The prototype worked on a fairly simple principle. I used probes to map the bore of my childress chanter. I then cut the assorted tubing into the appropriate lengths and assembled them one into the next (not using the penny chanter method) so when i was finished i had a brass replica of the bore of my childress chanter. I then drilled the same holes the same diameter in the same places as my childress chanter. It responded accordingly. Like i said I couldn’t test it with a childress reed without taking the reed apart, and this little project isn’t worth ruining my only spare. Besides, I think knowing how to make your own reeds is important.
So, don’t think I’m suffering from hubris here, it’s a reed tim made for a chanter he worked on, (not a britton reed for a britton chanter) and was only done to test the timbre - after all, i needed to see what a solid brass chanter sounded like.
Oh, this is all too confusing for me…
I think I’ll go sit in the bleachers until I see pictures and sound files.
I’m going to jump in one last time and note that if your new telescoping brass tubing chanter (that you prototyped and polished in a few days) is out of tune, it’s likely that the fault is not in the reed design. Especially if the reed is from Tim Britton (who has made hundreds upon hundreds of reeds and additionally developed his own personal style [which some people like and some do not]).
As it takes makers (good and bad alike) years upon years to learn about pipemaking, especially chanters, perhaps you should put your time into a proven design. Whether or not that is via David’s plans or putting your time into a job to earn money to purchase your sweetheart a good chanter or via another method is your own choice. To run, it helps quite a bit at first to know how to walk. Explore, experiment and master current techniques and they will give you the tools to invent your own.
Dionys
i didn’t say it was tim’s reed’s fault - it was designed for a different bore et cetera altogether. The reeds that are giving me trouble are the one’s i’m making (only my first 20).