Anyone own one of Joe’s sets? We’ve got a woman who will likely be bringing a Kennedy half-set down to the Salt Lake Club’s booth at the Celtic Fest this weekend and she’s having some troubles getting her reeds to sound. In particular, she’s having a hard time getting her drones to hold steady…more than just the usual bag pressure issues of a beginner.
I had a chance to take a quick look at the set this past weekend and the drone reeds were of a different construction than anything I’ve seen first-hand before. They appeared to be a tube of some form of wood that appeared at first glance to resemble balsa pretty closely. Then a separate tounge was glued onto the tube to make the lip of the reed. No binding, no bridle, just the wood.
Her chanter reed also seemed to be pretty narrow for a D stick, and though it had some residual issues, after a quick bridle adjustment, it was playing fairly well anyway. It may need some work too though.
At any rate, my biggest question is if any of you are aware of any particular quirks or issues to look out for whith Joe’s sets. All in all, it seems to be really very well made. Just curious about the reeds etc.
Not familiar with JK pipes, but it looks as though you may have discovered the problem…reeds. It sounds like the drone reeds might be constructed of Elder. I’ve never had an opportunity to play these reeds, so I haven’t anything to contribute regarding them beyond that I know a few folks who perfer them over cane, citing better stability as the reason.
I wondered about the possibility of elder being used. The chanter reed looked traditional enough, and even had a reasonably decent tone once everything was adjusted down.
The drone reeds though just looked unlike any other construction I’ve seen before. And the wood itself appeared to be a very light (non-dense) variety. I pulled out the smallest and the weight was almost not there at all - which reminded me immediately of balsa used in model airplanes etc. The tone was OK - not great, but not completely bad either. I would expect a good set of cane reeds would give them a smoother more pronounced tone and probably a more consistant tone as well.
I’ll hopefully have a chance to inspect it all much more closely this weekend and with luck I’ll be able to get some good pictures too.
I’m not sure if Joe is still making drone reeds this way, but for a while he was drilling a maple dowel and then gluing on a sugar pine tongue - a very pleasant sound. The drone reeds may just need an o-ring bridle and some tweaking.
Joe’s chanter reeds are usually narrower than on the wide bores - part of controling the sound for sweetness. Absolutely the best advice is for the owner to contact the man himself, either by phone or e-mail.
Right - I think we all know the value of asking the maker and that was the first suggestion I gave to the owner of this set. What I was hoping for was perhaps a bit more information and/or insight from other owners of one of his sets too. She’s MUCh closer to us here than to Joe up in Canada and was hoping to have a few tweaks done here to get things in a much more playable state. The info on the dowel and pine reed is great - sounds like it describes the reed I saw almost exactly.
Brian, I’m not sure what else you want to know. Joe’s chanters tend to be a little smaller than wide bore, but are not quite as small as a narrow bore. He controls the sound by making the reeds a bit narrower. The drones are definitely narrow bore. Joe avoids the big wide bore honker sound, opting instead for a quieter, sweeter sound.
I will give you the dimensions for my own D chanter reed, but Joe keeps tweaking his design, so I don’t know if they would be appropriate for the chanter in question.
Start cane slip at 0.500" from cane and work down to 0.480". When tied this will spread back to 0.490". Length of slip is 4.500", with each blade cut to 2.250". Reed shoulder is 1" from lips. Centre of slip after gouging should be 0.040 - 0.045" thick. Joe does not gouge/sand a sound chamber inside the reed.
Staples are hand-rolled. Brass or copper stock 0.020". Length is 2.125". Bottom width is 0.550". Top is 0.510". Roll over the mandrel provided, between two old metal files (this would destroy new metal files). Height of eye should be 0.055". I don’t have a width measurement for the eye - whatever comes off the mandrel after working with pliers.
Total reed length after slips are tied on should be 83 - 84 mm. Length from reed lips to top of binding is 28 mm. Length of scrape from lips is 20 mm. Bridle is 0.150" wide by 1.250" long. Sanding cylinder is 2". Joe uses the perfectly sized spray can from Glade (very high tech, that).
Those measurements are indeed helpful and we may try making an extra reed for her chanter on Saturday. The tone was very nice throughout the set, just not quite there in the stability department.
The drones were again the most curious to me, but I believe the description above helps me out there too. More than anything though, I was curious to learn if any of you owned and reeded a set of his and had experience with any possible idiosynchricies (sp?) of his drones or chanters.
Thanks for all the info so far though. I’m sure it will help us to get things going.
My drones are rock solid on both sets, but took a bit of tweaking to get there, i.e. playing with the o-ring bridles a little bit, a couple of touches with the wet&dry paper, a blob of wax at the tip of the tongue - the usual stuff.
Looking at your photos DJM, I’m reminded of one other pressing question I had -
Does Joe not believe in ELBOW PADDING?! LOL I think i bruised my funny bone just trying to play for like five minutes on her set! Still, the rest of the workmanship is very pleasant to look at.
He doesn’t like the look of them. I must admit I skinned my elbow a few times until I got used to the hang of them. Now I’m too tough to use one of those sissy elbow pads.
Yeah, I ended up with a callous on my elbow and one on my hip from playing an unpadded bellows. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my new Childress set came with padded bellows.
I have had my half set (4 drones with one A) for over a year now and have found the following:
a) Drone reeds are incredibly stable. They have not been adjusted since day one and are bang on – even the A drone. Particularly happy in the present warm and humid weather.
b) Chanter reeds are stable considering the Canadian winters. My reed is presently bang on D in both octaves and reaches the top without effort.
c) Joe backs his work up 100%, aside from novice pipers buggering up reeds by playing with the bridles.
d) I had padding put on my bellows by request for having bony arms and I find it very comfortable.
If you would like to discuss, PM me and I will give you my contact information.
I have a B 3/4 set and a C sharp half set by Joe, both are very fine peices of work and both have gotten great receptions this side of the pond by some very well known names in piping. I have had no trouble with the B set and only had to adjust the C sharp chanter reed slightly after some months (not bad considering the change in climate) ,but then I have a reasonable idea how to adjust (and when NOT to adjust) a reed… is the same always true?.. Joe has recieved several Irish orders on the quality of these sets.
I have a D 3/4 set on the way from Joe. He has been refining his D chanter design over the past years. He sent me a tape of himself playing his latest concert pitch design and I am very encouraged by what I hear there. To be honest I am not 100% sold on the narrow bore D thing, but a prototype of the design that he sent me over a year ago is very interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s new through subsequent design developements. He is really dedicated to the design and experimentation process… and he doesn’t butcher old sets or think he’s God or Paddy Keenan or anything silly like that…
A friend of mine was once playing Scottish smallpipes at a wedding. The bellows were unpadded and as he was starting up, it became apparent that his bag had sprung a major leak. He bravely soldiered on through the gig, his arms flapping wildly like a turkey. Afterwards, he had a lovely bellows-shaped bruise on his ribcage…
Ouch. I’ve never had a bellows with a pad, but then again, I have enough ‘natural’ padding that it’s never been a problem. I have had a GHB bag blow out during a gig. I was able to finish the gig but it took a great deal of effort and breath…I’d mutch rather flap like a turkey.
I too have misgivings about the narrow bore d. Joe however says he is aiming for a ‘middle bore’.
A few years ago a D chanter of his found it’s way to Miltown Malbay, looking for opinions on it’s design and ended up with one one of my pupils. It came with some five reeds, not all of them great but we settled for one [whcih wasn’t Joe 's choice as the best by the way]. it needed some fiddling to get the octave in tune but afer two years of playing the chanter has settled into a nice toned instrument and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an instrument that is strong enough to be heard without it screaming at you.
I’ve got a D 1/2 set from Joe…I love it. Very responsive and a sweet tone, and the two chanter reeds I have from him work pretty much all of the time regardless of the weather. We do live in the same climate however. I’m very lucky-Joe’s only an hour away from me.
LOL I think i bruised my funny bone just trying to play for like five minutes on her set! Still, the rest of the workmanship is very pleasant to look at.
He doesn’t like the look of them. I must admit I skinned my elbow a few times until I got used to the hang of them. Now I’m too tough to use one of those sissy elbow pads. 
