Hola
I’m looking for a reedmaker here in the states. Have a Sloan chanter, and the good reed just died. I haven’t gotten 'round to making reeds myself yet. Anyone??
Thanks!
I’d give a try to:
or our very own Moderator par Carcharodon carcharias, Joseph E. Smith.
Your best bet though would be to order one from Ray Sloan directly.
A forum search will likely yield other erstwhile reedmakers.
Reepicheep wrote:
or our very own Moderator par Carcharodon carcharias, Joseph E. Smith.
I’d second that. Joseph made me a great reed for my C chanter just recently!
So how long does it usually take to make a reed?
ie…do I really want to learn to do this.
Doc
45 minutes after the ten years it takes to learn…
–kb
It takes just a little while to get used to how the cane responds to gouging and sanding/scraping. Benedict Koehler hits the nail on the head when he refers to “listening to the cane”. Eventually you will become accustomed to how to identify when the slip is ready to cut and tie.
The best thing to remember is to go slowly, there is no need to rush it.
Thanks for the responses. Yes, I could always send it to Ray which I have done before, but it’d be nice if there was someone here in the US that could do it. I wasn’t aware that the pipemakers mentioned above made a practice of reeding chanters that they didn’t make. I guess I’ll give one of them a try if that’s the case. Anyone else out there?
Who’s pipes are Ray’s based on, or are they entirely his own design??? 
I don’t know about David Daye, but I’m certain that Pat Sky will make a reed for just about any chanter.
My reply was a bit jaded, but I stand by it…
To get to a good reed, you do indeed need to put plenty of water under the bridge. That means making many reeds until one crows. Then when you get them to crow, more get to the right scrape by scraping many to breakage to find that threshold. Once at that point, you get to responsiveness to some of the more difficult note, or playing in tune in both 8-tives.
You will find along the way that your techniques become more consistent, and less to chance. Once you get control of this, it goes faster and you will get there.
My recommendation - go ahead and get a good reed made and at the same time begin the reedmaking process: get supplies, reading materials, plenty of cane and most of all advice. There are many good avenues for this - tionols (reedmaking workshops), published and on-line materials, and specific advice on this and other forums (we’re here for you…).
Having a good reed in your chanter made by someone else is good to have for comparison. From this you have an example of dimensions that work, how it crows and how it plays in the chanter.
Good luck!
–kb
A piper being jaded ?!?!
I can’t believe it! When did this happen?
I really don’t know, but my uneducated guess would be Rowsome.
Could be his own design though!
Jonathan, your best bet is to get a reed made on this side of the pond, by somebody who lives in an environment similar to the one you live in.
Having a reed made overseas will greatly reduce the chance of that reed playing well in Texas… but I suppose there’s always exceptions. Surely there are reedmakers in Tex Arcana?