I’m interested in the idea of a plastic chanter reed with regard to its potential for stability and dependability no matter the atmospheric conditions.
Should anyone wish to pm me with their positive experiences of synthetic chanter reeds and details of same they would be very welcome to do so.
I can offer complete confidentiality along with the categoric assurance that I will never ‘out’ anyone nor ever refer to their shameful secret in public forum.
This is merely an idle enquiry of a philosophical nature, naturally.
I find it most frustrating that we (pipers) are all at the mercy of primitive cane reeds when the technology surely exists to do a better job! Trouble is, I’m a new piper and I don’t necessarily know what I’m talking about!!!
I’d like to think that we could be set free from the vagaries of weather and changes in humidity. I play a ‘plumbing-pipe’ flute by Doug Tipple which the cognoscenti would be sniffy about but, truth be told, if blindfold they couldn’t tell from a quality timber flute so I could be persuaded the same might be true of a well-constructed plastic reed.
Am I chasing ‘Scotch Mist’? (I’m well known for chasing Irish Mist but that’s a whole 'nother tipple altogether ).
Uilliam tell me the truth, were bottles broken or was beer spilt.
Any how have you heard about some beers coming in plastic bottles would make for a good bar fight…Bonk…Bonk…Bonk…(Hours later)…Bonk…Bonk..
Cane is way supiror in tone regardless of what instrument it is the only thing that is better in Plastic is drone reeds. Here is a list of things that sound better in cane: GHBs (except the Drones), Galician/Asturian Pipes, most other types of bagpipes, Bassoon, Oboe (modern and other types), English Horn (Alto Oboe), and all single reed instruments. Cane may be harder to use but the effort is well worth it. The fact is for tone cane wins.
Cane sounds better, but for some of us in climates that run the gamut from cold and dry to hot and humid, the idea of at least practicing with a plastic or composite reed is a tempting one. My biggest problem with playing is that I have to spend have my practice time messing with the reed during the winter.
My first chanter (by Jim Daily) had a plastic reed (made from a drinking straw I beleive) and sounded very nice with that reed. It was a bit heavy for me as a beginner and I had difficulties with getting the second octave due to my bag and bellows technique. My best chanter a blackwood one, also by Jim, has a cane reed and sounds lovely - this may be due to the chanter as well as the reed. I also have Chris Dixon and Pakistani chanters that have plastic reeds, that also sound very nice to my ear.
While my cane reeded chanter is the best sounding, it is in tune up to G in the third octave (I have never managed to get it any higher) it is also the most tempremental. Plastic reeds, once set up, play straight out of the bag in any conditions and give the beginner one less thing to worry about when learning to play.
When reading the posts on reedmaking in the forum, it seems to me that getting a consistant man made replacement for cane would cure a lot of the problems that are highlighted.
OK, we can all see the potential advantages of a humidity and temperature stable material.
HOWEVER…
There aer some glaring ommissions here that I feel need to be pointed out. All the difficulties one might have with cane reeds and their construction would NOT be limited to cane alone. You’ll still need to find the perfect staple design (out of synthetic brass I imagine), sand the inner radius correctly, tie it properly to said staple, and figure out how on earth to control a scrape with a slippery material.
And in the end, any quality plastic or poly will likely cost more due to it’s involved manufacture. I’d rather go hack down some good ol’ arundo and spare the neighbors around having to look at this “weed” - while at the same time making some great reeds.
I wonder what sort of color you’ll find in the tone of a plastic reed?
Of course, a good followup would be “where can I find out how to make one of these plastic reeds?”. I recently got some cane and tools and messing around with plastic might be an entertaining waste of time and keep me from messing up my new cane until I know what I am doing.
I would gladly give up a bit of tone quality (not a lot, but some) for a set of reeds that play during the winter. It makes me laugh when I see some people suggest not to play your pipes unless the relative humidity is at least 50%. It only gets that high three months of the year here. Our current weather is is -20 C one day and +5C a few days later - up and down every few days. It snows, it rains, its sunny or cloudy, and I have to frig with the reeds every time I sit down to play just to get them to sound. Plastic is a very attractive alternative. Does someone have measurements?
Djm get good at making plasic reeds seeing as I’m in the same climate as you, I guess I will have to deal with the same fun you do. Get good and you can send some my way once I get a set.
It is up to you the fact is cane sounds better plastic is more stable so if you are willing to sacrifice tone for stablity go head. Yogurt containers and traslucent beer cups (not the red ones) I have heard are good for smallpipe reeds. Also the prefect material would be hard to find there are so many options then you have everything else after that.
Try asking Chris Dixon or Jim Daily (at uilleann-pipes.com) both of them have supplied me with plastic reeds - Jim used large diameter drinking straws as his raw material, he said it was readily available and he didn’t need to worry about it leaking at the sides. It worked well sound wise, but I found it difficult to get the second octave with it, this was probably down to me as it was my first uillean chanter when I was just starting to learn to play.
So how are they making these? Using the large diamter straw as a quasi-slip and use a normal staple? No scrapping? How about for the bridle? A little piece of wire or something. Someone post a picture for us idjuts.
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