" A lady I know with a full Wooff C set wanted to get them re-reeded. Jeff’s price for a new set of reeds - $1000. -oof!- " said djm (In a post discussing the Spanish Hevia pipes)
That seems to be a very high sum to pay - does that include posting and packaging and sending the set across the ocean too? Geoff put a new reed in my Wooff C chanter reed for 50 punt just over a year ago when I was in Ireland - Geoff kept the old reed & staple - The new reed is still playing, getting easier to play and sounding better too. Prehaps I got a good deal, or has the price really gone up so much.
My understanding is that he wants you to learn to build your own reeds. It takes a lot of hours, even for Geoff, to re-reed a set, and he would just as soon have you do it than spend the time himself.
As has been mentioned on many threads here and elsewhere, Geoff Wooff is generally acknowledged as one of the top UP makers today. If he is going to re-reed your set, he is going to make a good job of it. If he is going to spend that many hours on your set, you are going to pay him for his time.
Few makers if any are doing “really well” from making/repairing UPs. Its still very much a labour of love. Those who are giving you a lot of free time and help are usually at the start-up position. As their time becomes more valuable and their cost to do business increases, expect their prices to rise accordingly. Its not a charity, after all.
djm
Well still seems like a lot of money to pay just for reeds. Four reeds at 50 euros a head is 200 euros, then three drone reeds say 25 euros, still less than 300 dollars. Geoff’s a craftsman making quality instruments. A well made flat set such as Geoff makes should be easy to reed and not require lots of tweaking to get in tune. Geoff prides himself on making pipes that don’t need a load of stuff up the bores in order to play in tune. I understand that Geoff was able to quickly and easily reed my Wooff C-chanter and have it playing as it is a good instrument.
I can understand that if someone wants their C set completely reeded that it takes time from working on someone elses set that’s on order. And yes I can see that the high price can function as a barrier, stopping people from wasting Geoff’s time, I’m thinking of stories of people just turning up on the doorstep, or long rambling phone calls. It all takes time from the job at hand. I certainly don’t begrudge Geoff making a decent living, fair play to him, his instruments give a tremendous amount of pleasure - I conclude that the price of 1000 dollars is surely a deterrent in order to get us making our own reeds and maintaining own pipes
SteamPacket, don’t know if you’ve ever re-reeded a whole set (if you have you’ll already know this) but its more than just a matter of getting each reed in tune. All the reeds have to also be in balance to each other for pressure, so that the same pressure used on the chanter is the correct pressure for the drones and regs. They have to be set just right so that jumping up to the second octave doesn’t cause the drones to waiver, or the regs to go out of tune, either to each other, or to the rest of the set. Its a long painful process to get everything going right.
I think the set in question suffered the usual problem of reeds that cross the Atlantic. They just don’t last in this hemisphere. I think there’s already enough threads on this topic on C&F, so no need to rehash it here.
But Geoff’s price is remarkable enough that I thought I would bring it up for the consideration of those on this board. Perhaps if more makers take this attitude about how we use up their time, we may be forced into making our own reeds. Another possibility, and what I understand happened in Ireland, is to have a whole new niche market develop of people who just make reeds. I believe we have started to see glimmerings of this already.
djm
I talked to Geoff about this yesterday and he confirmed what I already thought.
He may have quoted that price but not for a straight forward re-reeding of one of his own sets, it was either a set that needed more work than that or a set that needed working out which reeds would play in it. You arrive at a price like this when you set the set up completely, i.e. when it takes a week’s work. Reeding, voicing and fine-tuning a new set takes two weeks, if you sit down with an old one it would take up to one week.
You may get a reed for 50 from any reedmaker but you can wonder how well that will work.
That’s about the story behind it.
Why would a reed costing 50 (whatever) be crap?
I assume you mean that by saying “you can wonder how well it will work”
I have seen my pipemaker give reeds away for free as part of service many times.
Even after a few years of owning the set.
And they weren’t crap by a long way..
Strange remark… :roll:
When will a reed be good?
If it costs $500? 
If you are a professional your requirements might be so precise that only a handful makers can live up to them. And 500$ for a reed isn’t that bad considering that you paid 20k for the set. I’m still a beginner, play for joy and fun when the kids are asleep. I cant see how my playing would improve just because bought an expensive reed. A nice sounding reed that stays well in tune throughout the year is more than enough for me. I have my Robbie Hughes chanter reeded by Allan Moller at the moment for 35£. I have heard nothing but the best about his work from people that has used his services before (they claim he is a wizard). I’ll post some pics and a clip when I get it back.
Thank God it’s some one out there to help us mortals.
Cheers!
/MarcusR
What I was saying [actuallly what Geoff was saying]ofcourse was that if you go to your/a pipemaker and get a reed off the shelf or get it sent by mail there’s no guarantee it will be a good fit or that it will last [nor did it say that it won’t be any good or that it won’t last, there are decent reedmakers out there]. If you have it fitted and all reeds balanced t othe way you play you will arrive at a higher price.
Consider the fact Geoff fitted my set when it was new [in 1985]and most of the original reeds are still playing in it, and he didn’t charge me for any of the replacements. And they go actually quite nicely, thank you.
ok.., sorry.., misunderstanding..
It looked like you were saying, if you don’t pay up.., you can’t expect anything good..
Which i thought kind of strange.. 
Obviously a pipemaker needs to be payed for his time.
Banging a reed in a chanter he made himself and was purchased by the owner shouldn’t be too expensive though imho.
Other makers sets and secondhand bought sets by the same maker are a different kettle of fish i think..
If the reeds don’t work you’ve got yourself a bunch of otherwise useless sticks with holes in 'em.
It is about time that superb reedmakers and pipemakers start getting what they deserve for a good set of reeds. I think Geoff’s quote of $1000 is reasonable. He deserves it.
For the record, Benedict Koehler is currently replacing the reeds in my new beehive set in C (photos on P.Darcy’s website) and will be final voicing the chanter. I will be paying him roughly $1000 if not more but the final price not yet set. The after-the-reeds-are-in customer service will be excellent as it usually is with Mr. Koehler.
I do not, however, believe all reedmakers should command such a fee. Certianly those in the upper tier of reedmaking who have made 5 to 10 thousand reeds and can reed about anything with a reed that can be guaranteed to play for quite a while deserve to be paid handsomely for reeding a full set or even a chanter. One asking for reeds is paying for expertise and especially access to the right person to do the job …ease and time put in by the reedmaker are moot points in the determination of pricing. If the reedmaker is an expert and can solve the reedmaking problem in a short period of time, get the job done and satisfy the customer, then those accomplishments are a mark of the skill and expertise of ther maker and command of a high fee is in order.
Yup!
djm
You bought Mal Whyte’s did you?
I’ve heard nothing more on the Mal White set, since all of the excitement a while back.
The set that he is talking is a Quinn/Koehler set inspired by that Beehive set. Check out the pics on Pat’s site.
Actually, I bought the set that David had made for himself that is beehive design ornamented based on an old presumably Kenna set. I played it when I visited him recently and was quite enamored with the set. He offered it to me as he knew how much I had liked it and that I had a strong desire to obtain a set to go with my existing K&Q Cn chanter. I had always wanted to get a C set from K&Q but couldn’t get on the wait list that has been closed for years. Photos of the set are scattered on their site at the following address but a few photos of the complete set are near the bottom of the page:
http://www.concentric.net/~pdarcy/page5/page5k.shtml
The set sounded great with David’s reeds but the chanter reed was a little weaker than I prefer them to be. Benedict is reeding the set simply because David wanted it to have Benedict’s magical touches. I am hoping to have it in my hands soon. 
Who did buy that beehive Kenna set? I notice it’s pictured on the French pipers’ club website: http://www.napiobairi.com/galerie.html
I’d say I’ve put $100 into reedmaking material, including cane, over 6 years, and my pipes play themselves, as they say. I’m no speed demon, it takes me an evening to make 5 reeds, but 1 of those at least will probably be a good chanter reed.
That was not actually a Kenna, the chanter was but the rest wasn’t, that was Ryan and again someone else knocked himself out putting those mounts on it.