I surprised myself and made a functioning reed. It was my first shot, ugly as hell, but sturdy and somewhat tuneful (first try, but I had some experience making very poor excuses for smallpipe reeds a few years ago.) I just wanted a sound: that’s all I was after for a first try. It went better tha expected and I could even manage the second octave easily enough. If anything, I may have made it too easy…
Now for the “but…”
My back D “chirps” or “growls” or something (I have a “professionally-made” reed that does this) and C# is too flat (or sharp? don’t remember exactly actually, but it isn’t right). The other notes seem all right, which is the part that strikes me as odd. Perhaps I should play with a drone and then go up the scale to see if it truly is. Runes sounded all right on it.
Any suggestions?
I have a lot of experience adjusting GHB reeds, but this is probably a different ball game altogether since in the GH world we don’t actually assemble our own reeds.
I foresee I’ll probably fiddle with this reed adjusting it until it breaks… but that’s okay: all part of the learning experience. One thing that postponed my buying a set of these pipes for so long, besides the steep financial dedication, was my intimidation about making my own reeds. This modest success seems to encourag me in that direction.
Anyway, I would be most grateful for any advice any would be willing to give on this.
thanks - yes, I have symmetry, but it is narrower than the pipe maker’s reed I use for comparison (and whose specs I have as well). the narrowness is because of a goof. But I did keep it symmetrical.
By too much sanding/scraping, do you mean I made the reed too weak?
I use a method to scrape the reed much as you describe.
Shall I disassemble the reed and begin again, being mindful to scrape away less next time? Or is there an adjustment I may made to this one to compensate.
I believe the thickness of the reed to be uniform (I hold it up to a light to look for darker spots). It is symetrical.
I am unsure about the distance of the bridle from the end. I stuck it in a spot tat seems suitable and , as I mentioned, it does play a scale save for D (which is inconsistent) and c# (which is always wrong).
Perhgaps I couldlosen the bridle a bit to increase the aperture of the li[ps?
Maybe I’ll play around with the depth of the reed in the chanter as I might on highland pipes.
I sometimes use electrical tape on my GHB… ever do that to flatten notes on UPs?
It wouldn’t hurt to get yourself some books on UP reedmaking. Peter Hegarty’s book is free for download from NPU, or you can buy the paper version. Also The Piper’s Despair by DM Quinn.
The discussion between DJones and eric-smith seems a bit one sided to my eyes…maybe thats why DJM felt the uncharacteristic urge to join in the debate to balance things up a bit!!!
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam
I had the exact same problem. someone here suggested that the reed was either too far in or not in far enuff (depending on whether the C# was too sharp or flat). I pushed it in a bit further and that solved two problems, first the C#
second, it eliminated a gurgle I had on the D due to a little leak i didn’t even know was there. the seal created by the winding in the seat wasn’t complete. when i pushed the reed in about 1/8 inch, it compressed the winding thread a bit more and eliminated the path for the air.
I will definitely try adjusting the reed … if this was a case for my GHB, I would have done that first. Since I made the reed, I assumed it was my reed-making. My smallpipe reeds never were very good and I abandoned making my own when I found a suitable plastic smallpipe chanter reed. (I don’t suppose there’s a plastic one for UP…)
How long do your reeds last? Should be a lot longer than GHB because there’s no moist blowing.
When do you give up on a reed and tear it apart for a rebuild?
Seems like the staples could be reused indefinitely, no?
A good reed’s lifetime seems to depend on your local climate. Paddy Mollony used the same Rowsome reed for 17 years. Then he came to Canada and it split walking out of the hotel to the concert. A good reed in dry climates seems to last a year or two, but you have to go through a lot of reeds to find a good one.
I don’t know anyone who has made a successful plastic reed for UP chanters. I have an experimental one from Jim Daly that is arrow shaped like a NSP reed, but the sound is not right at all.
Yes, you can re-use your bridles and staples, but these are so easy to make that I don’t know anyone who bothers.
One of the benefits of living near your pipemaker is that you can go back and get a better reed if you don’t like the one you have. You can also pick up a lot of good reedmaking and adjusting tips just by hanging out with your pipemaker.
That is because it wasnae made for your chanter.It worked on his but he preferred cane and he was only experimenting with it.When he sent ye the reed it was for ye to experiment with,ie.take it apart rebuild measure or do whatever ye want with not just stick it into your chanter and expect it to play
Uilliam, agreed, and it was a good eye-opener of what is possible. That’s why I mentioned that it was an experimental reed. I do not need it for my chanter. I am looking at reg reed designs. My point is that the voice/timbre of the plastic reed is just not right. It does make a sound, just not the sound I want for my regs.
