Hi all! As you can tell by the title, I’m looking for a person willing to test a chanter prototype. My brother and I recently started making 3D-printed chanters, and I’m quite pleased with our latest design. I’m now looking for an experienced piper to test out the chanter and give us feedback.
The chanter looks like a normal uilleann chanter, 3D printed entirely from black resin. There are a few noteworthy points about it:
The length. Being a frequent traveler, I was annoyed to find my other chanters just a bit too long to fit in my luggage. As such, I made this chanter slightly shorter, at 49cm (19.3in) overall. It is roughly 2cm (0.79in) shorter than my other chanters.
The windcap. Being an incredibly easy feature to design into the chanter, the windcap comes standard as a shutoff valve if you rotate it in the reedcap, allowing you to shut off air to the chanter to tune the drones.
Potentially a bit controversial, the reeds: The reeds designed to be used are modified “red reeds” from Ebay. Here’s my reasoning: Currently students can either buy a reed directly from a maker or jump into the deep end, making their own at home. I find these red reeds provide a great “reed kit” to start working on reeds without having to make the entire reed. By making a chanter for these modified reeds, I guarantee a working reed is possible, so that beginners can start to experiment and gain experience working with reeds, later progressing to making their own. Obviously, you could still make a reed from scratch for this chanter, or buy a finished one from me, but I hope that this can provide an additional middle ground.
If you’re interested in testing this chanter out, send me a PM. I only have one chanter available, and I’m looking for an experienced piper in the USA. I will pay for shipping the chanter. All I want is honest feedback and a review. After the tester is done, he or she is welcome to keep the chanter for themselves, or send it on to other interested testers. If you feel keeping the chanter would bias your review, I will also cover the costs of shipping it back to me.
That is a very generous offer. Might I make a suggestion? There are piper groups, ie Hudson River Pipers, if you contact them you could get several reviews and they can further use it as a loaner for new pipers. Just a thought. Very kind of you either way. Best wishes. Cheers
Or, perhaps, through a piping event like the Tionols or the Pipers Gathering where there would be a whole gaggle of pipers at all levels, as well as makers, who might provide test runs and comments.
If all goes well, I plan to be at this year’s Tionol, and I’ll maybe bring a few extra chanters with me. As for the piper clubs, that’s a good idea; I might do something with them, but we’re just taking it one step at a time for now. Thank you all for the interest!
Just to clarify a point in my first post: the red reeds I refer to are the readily available cane reeds usually coming from Pakistan with a distinctive red binding. Here’s an example:
Hi there, I also have been working on a 3D printable chanter. I’ve got it to the point where I’m using it instead of my Penny Chanter, because the back D on mine is in better tune
Are these red reeds any good? I’ve been working with a Bulgarian piper in Pasadena on ideas for a 3D printed PLA reed, but sanding it into shape is proving to be a real chore.
In my not-strictly professional opinion, I think these reeds are good, once they are re-scraped. They have a slightly louder, more buzzier tone than some other reeds, which is their biggest downside. I think the cane used might be harder than other reed cane, which is what causes that. I also use my 3D-printed chanter as my main one these days, with a red reed. It’s fully in tune in my chanter, and even though the sound quality isn’t perfect, the “feel” of playing them feels nice, if that makes sense.
Something to note: If you based your model on the Penny Chanter, with the intention of using their reeds in it, then the reed might not play nicely with the chanter. I tested a model based on the Penny Chanter, and it was going to need some changes, either with the reeds or the chanter, before the reeds would play in tune. I found these reeds to work best in a Rowesome-type design.
If that sounds interesting, it might be worth picking up some and just trying them out. If you’d like, I can send some pictures of the reeds once they’re re-scraped, or send you my process of re-finishing them.
Also, good job on getting a more-stable back D! I’ve done my time sanding PLA too, it’s no fun. Have you gotten any useable printed reeds?
Boy, I sure hope we don’t have to apologize for being slow on the reply…
I haven’t yet gotten a working plastic reed. Lots of other projects with higher priority have prevented me working on it any further. I think this is a decade-long project, heh.
And the D on my penny chanter is fine now that it’s getting warmer outside. Or maybe it’s humidity. Or maybe the phase of the moon. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from trying to make my own instrument, it’s that the reed is far and away the most important part.
I think I’ll order some of these reeds you’re using. I’ve never made an Uilleann reed before, but it sounds like messing one of these up isn’t going to make me cry, so it might be a good way to start out. Another thing instrument-making has taught me: the builder is only special because of their willingness to work through 80 duds before getting something usable. I’d better get started right away on the reeds
I’ve been very lucky so far, in that I haven’t had humidity, or lack thereof, affect my reeds much yet. I can see the allure of plastic, to prevent that from ever arising, but I admit to a certain scepticism that they’ll ever come close to the sound of a cane or spruce reed. Maybe it would be enough though, just to have a reed to play during the winter months.
I’m really liking having these “reed kits” as they come out of the box. I’ve just been experimenting with adjusting the staple placement on one of the reeds, and honestly, it’s all a lot simpler than I thought it would be. In terms of actual mechanics, the adjusting of reeds is easy, IMO. Knowing what to adjust, though, is a completely different matter…
A few things to note from my personal experience with these reeds: The reeds will probably take a little longer to arrive than you expect, so just bear that in mind. Also, check for leaks along the edges, and seal with beeswax or similar as necessary. Lastly, bridle placement is just as important as the scrape on the reed. I’ve had a couple of these reeds behave well without any refinishing, just by moving the bridle down to below the scrape, just above the thread wrapping.
So true! I wish you the best of luck, getting through all the duds!
A quick update: The current tester would like to send the chanter on to another tester.
When the chanter arrived with the current tester, both reeds with it were too open (as far as I can tell). I’m guessing that humidity or something changed the reeds a bit, and the current tester would prefer not to work with adjusting reeds.
So, I’m looking for a tester who’s an experienced piper and someone who doesn’t mind setting up/adjusting reeds. (Also, one who’s based in the USA.)
The same terms as before apply; once you’re done testing, feel free to keep the chanter, or pass it on to an aspiring piper or piping club.
I’m going to be travelling for a few days, so I might not get back to your PMs until Friday or so.
I don’t mean to turn this into a thread about reeds from that dude in Pakistan, but…
I did pick some up. They arrived with a piece of sandpaper, which sends a pretty clear message to me. Having only ever made oboe reeds, I would love to see whatever you can think to detail about your finishing process.
Important to note: I’m not an expert reed maker/adjuster at all, so proceed at your own risk…
The first thing I’d say to try is just moving the bridle down. Put it about level with the very bottom of the scrape, or slightly past, and open/close as necessary. You might find you need to get a different bridle material, like copper wire. See what results you get from there. I don’t have the reed at the moment, but when I did that, it produced a reed that played almost perfectly, if perhaps a bit stiff on the high A and B. That might be fixed by sanding along the edges if they’re too thick, or by trimming the lips.
Depending on what results you get from there, you might try thinning the back of the scrape. I’ve done that, sometimes quite drastically, without causing any real issues except a more finicky high E. But at the same time, the benefits I found to be pretty minimal, mostly making it a bit more even in pressure across the two octaves.
Due to the stiffness of the cane, my general inclination would be to gradually thin it out if you find you need to. Again, I’d first experiment with bridle placement, and note that the lips might need to be ever so slightly more closed than you’re used to.
Lastly, it can be done! I currently play one of these modified reeds as my main reed, and it sounds pretty good. I was at the St. Louis Tionol in April, and I also heard good feedback from a few who tried my chanter then.
Testing is a very subjective thing, best thing would be to send me maybe ten , I’ll test them all and then get back to you. You have got to remember uilleann pipes are a very visual instrument, it’s not good enough that they sound well they have to look that they were made by Michaelangelo himself
I know of a recently made chanter that looks and sounds very good even though the bore is all over the place. It’s not my place to name the maker even though it’s a great chanter.
