sometime ago somebody bougth these…there was a thread of it here…but what was the result?
Good reeds/ bad reeds? worth of money?Sound?etc.etc.
I’m surprised no one has remarked about these. Maybe they are really unremarkable. I have certainly not seen any glowing praise anywhere. I find the Ezeedrones to be uninteresting in tone. Their GHB reeds are better for their purpose. You get a stable note, sans rich harmonics. Some of the composites made by pipe-makers and pipers have a nicer purr, while some are outright objectionable. IMHO, cane and elder have the best tone and balance, if they are coupled with well designed drones.
Hmm, I’ve wondered about what Ted just wrote about drone reeds and the Great Highland bagpipes since I went to a maintenance workshop at the Upper Potomac Pipers’ gathering a while back. Many of the people there play GHBs, border pipes and small pipes and they were “speaking a different language” with regard to some aspects of playing. The thing that struck me most of “constant pressure” throughout. They even hook a manometer (I didn’t know what one was until then) and check their pressure a lot. Although I was sitting in for the heck of it (and to hear some of the useful tips about tying in a bag, making a valve for the blowpipe, etc.), I learned that the dynamics of uilleann pipes (variable pressure) playing was much different from those three instruments (constant pressure).
strange that nobody seems to have them 
, if remember rigth somebody gave reed diams etc at this forum.
If they were really good, we should have heard by now, with lots of praise from happy customers. As we have not heard anything, we are left with no information. Seems like a lot of money to check them out. A number of Ezeedrone sets have been put to use, but the results have been less than stellar. If they can be fitted, they produce a stable note but without any richness of overtones. I have replaced a number of sets of these with cane reeds.
I really enjoy using cane (or elder) reeds. I like the idea of using something the old players used, and I love the sound off them. I also have wooden body, cane tongues from Tim Britton, and have tried the wooden body/ wooden tongue reeds from Michael Hubbert. My Gallagher B set I’d fitted w.elder. Each one of the scenarios listed above sound great, all with their own unique vibe. I don’t care for wooden tongue, brass bodies.
As Ted says, as long as the drones are well designed… cane or elder is best.
Speaking as a competent GHBer and an incompetent Uilleann player, I would say the difference is not that much. Any decent player of any instrument is constantly aware of the pressure they’re applying and making adjustments moment from moment. Actually applying constant, steady pressure is a technique you need to be able to apply but it’s not the end goal.
On the topic of drone reeds, I would guess that it isn’t difficult, in theory, to create high quality composite reeds. The problem is the amount of development and tiny market for any particular design.
I think it’s important to recognize that composite drones are used primarily because they are less affected by weather changes. Be they sugarwood, redwood, wooden bodied, brass bodied… it really comes down to performance under a variety of environments. In some cases, the drones may beg the question, " can you bear the sound they make?" If you’re in the situation where you can pick, experiement, and change materials…well, yer in a good situation!
Easy for me to say, but take someone who is at the mercy of using what they got with the gear. That’s an entirely different situation. It’s easy to read “redwood composite drones,” and think this has got to be the answer to all my issues! All I can say is, take a deep breath and ask around. As Ted said, if nobody is using them… probably best to move on.
Back to the topic, though…
…“redwood” sounds “cool,” but again…it’s important to recognize that composite drones are used primarily because they are less affected by weather changes. Who wants to be stuck w/o drones?
**I should say some people really like the “clack,” or “snap” sound wooden tongues make on wooden bodies. More power to your aural preferences if you’re not using comp. reeds just for function!