While I was at Swannanoa a couple of weeks ago it was rainy damp weather. Most of the playing was outside and I think I have mold on the chanter reed. As I look at it the tips of the reed, the cane is black just on the inside of each slip. The reed now plays muffled as before it was very bright and responsive. It’s been a good reed and I would like to restore it. Any suggests to correct this??
Thanks … Ed
Short term, you can slide a piece of very fine grit sand paper or wet-dry paper and squeeze the lips together while pulling the paper out to clear/hone the inner lip surfaces. Long term, I’m think you’re probably hosed, as once mold gets established its pretty well impossible to get rid of. Any mold treatments like soaking with bleach would probably destroy your reed.
Look on the bright side: what a marvelous opportunity to start learning to make your own reeds! 
djm
To clean inside the reed I just use a piece of paper. Not too smooth a piece though…I try to use a rougher brown paper than nice smooth white stuff. (I do not use sandpaper for a simple cleaning.)
Pinch the sides of the reed to open it a little and insert the paper. Then slide it around a bit. You can also pinch the blades together to get better surface contact.
This should help remove mold or whatever other gunk gets into your reeds!
Good Luck!
Paul
Probably just dirt (should see my reed after twenty years). I use a feather (one reedmaker long ago told me it should be a crow’s feather), not too big, strip the hair off it so you have a little brush at the end, stick it up the staple and very carefully brush the inside of the cane. Usually sound like new after.
Paper as described above can work too, don’t use paper that leaves more fibres than it takes out, a fresh banknote one pipemaker advised for this.
I still have a bit of mold on my main reed made by Bob Gardiner from a few years ago and it works fine, I used a bit of 600 grit on it and then lanolin oil ( just a bit ) and works like a charm still. But here in Montreal where the humidity reaches 80% to 90% in the summer ( because we’re surrounded by water) I have a lot of cleaning to do on them.
upiper71
Dave Hegarty outlines a method for cleaning reeds in the new edition of his book, using a feather and some di-cholorlo-bimethytri-dontgetitonyourtongue of some kind. Nasty stuff. Pat Sky wrote about cleaning out Liam O’Flynn’s Rowsome reed from time to time, when the insides had turned black.
This also brings up the need to sand the inside of the slip reasonably smooth, which will help it to resist moisture and grunk buildup, also the old trick of burnishing the slip, for the same reasons.
Try moistening some cane after you’ve sanded it - you’ll see how much the grain can raise. It’s like a bit of carpet.
great point Kevin!
If all else fails , smash it against the wall and make a new one
Or drop it into your latest batch of Home-brew to help get those bubble happenin’
Thanks very much for your information. The reed is going much better now
…Ed