I’ve been having troubles with my baritone drone for a while now. I’ve posted a clip of what it’s sounding like. Sometimes I can get them off okay, but usually throughout the course of the tune the baritone drone falls into that honky kind of sound. I tried flicking the reed, and got an even worse gargly sound. Ideas???
Clip: https://app.box.com/s/izmv1xjy00xwqh9hq5rdxqvji9oocy8p
Thanks all!
…wild guess…tongue too open…
Try moving the bridle along, closing the tongue a bit as it goes - ease of strike should increase, volume will
go down, pitch will go up, etc, etc.
M
I’ve found that often, when a drone reed wants to jump way down in pitch at lower pressure but is otherwise good (e.g., it’s stable and in tune in the second octave), the thing to do is leave the bridle right where it is, but reduce the curve of the tongue just slightly.
I’ve had good success by sliding a single strand of dental floss under the tongue, perpendicular to the long axis of the reed, and moving it down to within 1 cm or so from the bridle, and then pressing the tongue closed a few times (and then removing the floss of course). This seems to make it easier for the tongue to vibrate at the desired pitch at lower bag pressure. Repeat as necessary, maybe trying different floss positions.
Unwaxed floss is probably best, but I’ve use waxed. Hasn’t caused problems by leaving wax behind, yet. 
Probably, any thread will do (obviously, thicker thread = more pronounced effect).
Good luck!
–Mick