I had the opportunity to spend a funfilled day with none-other than Joseph Smith… tunes, driving to find arundo donax, reedmaking… the usual… but the point of the quick post is a shout out to his evolving reedmaking… he’s really becoming an asset to the pipers down here in Florida… we walked through a reed or two together and i have to tell you, he’s really getting his craft down. the tonality of his reeds is there… the tuning is there… the pressure is getting easier as time goes on… someday this guy is gonna be doing a lot of reeding for folks…
just thought i would mention it. there are a lot of folks out there who get bitten by the reedmaking bug… but this one’s getting really very good at it!
But seriously, I’ve first hand experience of his reeds and can vouch for his skill as a reedmaker.
It’s probably a good opportunity to remind folks that JES provides a retirement home for old and disabled reeds. My spies tell me that he’s cateloguing reeds and reed dimentions by maker in the hope of someday being able to produce a compendium of reed dimentions. A worthy project that deserves all our support.
yup… i agree. he had a go at reeding a few of my chanters… nailed the childress one… got pretty darn close with some existing reeds of his with my BK and lynch ones… even gave some tips for repairing my split BK reed… good on joe!
I teach CAD and suffer from it… Chanter Acquisition Disorder
similar to WAD (whistle acquisition disorder) but far more expensive and painful!
Until recently I think I had 7(?)
Childress D (first one… came with first set…)
Burke D (a generous donation to the cause)
Childress B (a very sweet chanter… came with set)
Britton Pakistani D (traded a plastic flute for it)
Lynch D (old widebore 5 keyed thing… love!)
Koehler D (there is where the C.A.D. stops!.. my precious)
Burke C prototype (returned for more r and d)
They just sort of piled up after a while. I should part with some at some point… just have a hard time letting go ( my precious!..)
next time we have another Florida gathering, such as spring maybe, as we just had in Orlando with Prof. McNamara, I will get Joseph to practice his reeding on these as well in the interest of his cause (affliction)
Unfortunately not in the near future. The batches I have curing are going to need at least another year or so before they are ready… and it will be in a very limited supply for a number of years. It takes a bunch of time (and fuel… that’s getting more expensive daily around these here parts y’all) to harvest as much as I would like, or to market in any real quantity. But that is the nature of both plant and reed cane.
Thanks John Maze, PJ, Seth, James, Tony, John Liestman, James Van Fleet and especially Reed Guru Alan Burton for your kind words and support… I’m getting a little misty… I will either need to clean my spectacles or guzzle even more booze.
You know, the more I read my last response, the more it sounds like an Oscar Acceptance speech. I appologize for that, it wasn’t my intent. I just wanted to acknowledge those people who have played a big role in my reedmaking… and to whom I owe my most sincere grattitude. And while I am at it, big kudos also goes out to Ted Anderson.
