I’ve heard a few people say that reeds made in Ireland don’t travel well to the USA. Does anyone have first hand experience of this situation and in what way were the reeds affected, and when they are affected do they eventually settle down to play well?
My experiences have been that reeds made in ANY moist climate (Ireland, Scotland, England) do not stand up well in any DRY climate.
To say that a reed made in Ireland wouldn’t work well in the USA is too broad a statement, IMO.
I had several reeds made by Seth Gallagher that didn’t work well in Colorado, although one reed that he made from “Colorado acclimatized” reed stock has been holding up very well.
There’s my $0.02.
BrianC
I recieved one from England, and when I first tried it, it was open too wide…I mean so wide that is was LOUD and would hardly go into the upper octave. So I had to squeeze the bridle down just a bit, and back it off. No scraping or trimming needed. After that, it settled in on its own after about 3 weeks and is the best operating reed I’ve ever played. BTW, I live in an extrememly dry climate.
My first half-set was from Ireland. The drone reeds died after a couple of months. The chanter reed gave up the ghost after a couple more months. I don’t know if this is only related to a dry vs wet climate. I suspect it also has something to do with the variability of my climate, i.e. cold to hot, wet to dry, within a day or two, and then back again.
Joe Kennedy made me new reeds that worked well. He noted that the Irish reeds, though well made, were very light, and suggested this might have been why they were so susceptable to change. He suggested the light reeds would probably last longer in a more stable environment.
I know that sudden changes can shock a reed. Several times I have seen pipers come over from Ireland in the winter, and their sets play well for the first day or so, but then they give up completely, and the pipers are left running around hoping to borrow a set for a concert or whatever. Not a pretty sight.
djm
the first few humidity cycles tend to be the killers. If a reed survives those, it’ll probably live long. Repeated adjustments (particularly those involving knife blades ) 
can be tough on a reed too.
In climates with extreme variability it probably pays to have ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ weather reeds, and switch as needed.
I don’t think it’s impossible to have light reeds in a dry climate - but reeds made for a very dry climate can ‘close up’ and be damaged in wet weather, if there are large residual stresses in the reeds. Another reason for trying to minimize the amount of shaping/effort that the bridle has to do, and for trying to de-stress the reed blades during construction. I’ve been pretty impressed with David Daye’s success in the latter.
Yeah, I think North America / USA are too vast for those kinds of statements.
In my particular home climate (humid subtrobical, East Texas) Irish reeds play quite well, but German reeds stink. I think Rogge’s probably a fine reedmaker, but I could never get his chanter reed to work in the chanter I bought from him. Stupid thing swelled shut. I opened it, and ended up re-wrapping it and could then play in one octave.
Drone reeds . . . hmm. I have had OK luck with drone reeds from Scotland, Ireland, and Germany in my super-wet climate. I think they like it. I know the timber does.
Stuart
I only have a couple Irish reeds, one came over with a chanter I won’t mention, made as an act of fellowship by a person I won’t mention not for being deserving of mention for the reed, but because I don’t want to mention anyone in the context of this chanter ever again.
Anyway, it had been knocked loose in shipping and the lips had got a bend in the middle from hitting the edge of some cardboard. The maker also said it wasn’t the greatest reed he’d made but OK. Anyway, the little ding massaged right out and it plays in a several chanters and sounds very very good and is very even and controllable, with a clean and full tone–not as buzzy as the Gallagher-component reeds I’ve made or bought, and light years ahead of the feeblish low D feel I get out of a Daye type reed. Not the beast a Britton reed usually is, and about like the Koehler reeds I’ve played. I haven’t played it a lot but it is a lot more stable and even playing than what I have, but not as bright–which may or may not be a good thing.
It plays very similar to the reed (don’t know who made it) being played by a great guy named Billy McCormick who came over and toured for a couple of weeks last March in the indoor/dry heating season. His pipes squirted out the mainstock onto the floor after a few days from drying out, but after he got that phenomenon under control that reed seemed rock-steady playing for hours and days with no adjustment and with great control. I had a go at that chanter a time or two and it seems to do with the cane used and just the general way of setting up the reeds over there. Maybe a slightly softer cane. I’m not sure.
I’ve also less directly heard Irish reeds played in all weather/seasons and agree the toughest time seems to be in our dry/indoor heat season, but the rest of the year when the humidity is up it isn’t a problem. (Minnesota) It seems more the reed operator who needs to be familiar with the way those reeds are handled–which is very carefully. They don’t seem weak to me but they aren’t terribly hard either, I don’t think it’s a question of strength adjustment more than how the blade is scraped to get there based on a softish cane more often than not.
Royce