It’s been said that most reeds improve with age.
So… I want to take a new reed and attach it to a small air pump (either in a chanter or length of tube that tunes in the range of pipes) to make it play with controlled pressure, non-stop for a few weeks to simulate years of playing.
Has anyone done this before??
Would a chanter reed playing at one note be bad?
Does it need to be ‘cycled’ over a range of notes to become balanced?
No smart-assed comments please…
Well, playing uilleann pipes is a bit like playing the oboe with a bicycle pump anyways…
Whatever turns you on, dude. I for one would let the reed age gracefully…
Tony, this idea has crossed my mind several times. You would need to get a pressure gauge to verify on your set how strong a pump to get. You wouldn’t want to break the reed, just break it in. My pipemaker suggests approx 2.5 psi. Probably a small vibration-type aquarium pump would do the job.
A problem you would run into is that moisture tends to condense when air is run through a pump, so you would have to incorporate some sort of moisture trap in the line before it reaches your reed (remember, UP reeds are designed to play dry). I was thinking of something along the lines of what is used for airbrushes.
Then there would be the constant noise. You might want to run this inside a box with a bit of sound insulation.
Hmm. Wouldn’t it be easier to just play the damned thing in?
djm
reed pump = elbow
use wisely and frequently
If reeds stabilize and improve with age, running them through a break-in pump may perfect a reed in a matter of days rather than years. What’s wrong with that concept?
Craig Fischer was doing this kind of thing to measure reeds and adjust them. He made a chanter and attached the pump to the head stock. The air line had a pressure gague and a regulator on it.
it was a great thing to experiment with. using tape you could sound all the different notes. Bottom d was interesting to mess about with, you could find the pressure where it started to break into hard d. There is a lot of different sounds between soft d and hard d (as hard as you can get it before it overblows) it was also interesting to note the pressure difference needed to jump the reed into the second octave.
Craig used it to figure out loads of things about reeds and tuning. You can experiment with the scrape and get a pretty good idea about what does what and where, also staples, gouge etc etc. When I was visiting him and we did some experiments with the pump we found that leaving the reed playing hard d was the quickest way to settle it in.
I would say that you need to plug your chanter into the pump with the reed in it so the reed gets used to the chanter.
A sound proof box is good unless your neighbours are a good distance away, the sound, thoug not incredibly loud, travels very well.
I w
Hmm…Actually that is quite interesting.
Okay, Tony. I’ve changed my mind. If you can set up the right sort of doohickies for this, I think it would be a worthwhile experiment.
…You might not want to start off with your favorite new reed though…
I believe Davy Spillane does or did this sort of thing, sounding the crow for a week or so. Also note that Dave Daye thinks the biggest factor is the reed getting used to changes in climate/humidity etc.
Don’t forget to add heaps of tobacco smoke in there, the greatest mellower of all (for reeds, that is). And do a bridle readjustment every 20 minutes during the breaking in process.
Alan
Mmmm, I use tobacco tins to store reeds. They smell nice and woody after a while. Smokin’ reeds! Also tea tins.
Perhaps you could use one method what is used with highland pipereeds
(chanter).Highland chanterreerds( new ones) needs some" blow in "period after it it’s easier to blow . Ususually this is made just by playing. it takes (depends the strenght of reed) few weeks.You can shorten the period with vacuumcleaner… put cork etc , with 2 hole
(one for reed, one for adjust airflow) put in the cleanerhose top. turn the
engine on… with airflow hole adjust the reed to sound . let the engine work…( notice that reed is upwards staple in cork)
Try this method with your UP reeds.
Cheers
In the violin-making business there have been several makers who will finish an instrument and then hang it in front of loudspeakers and subject it to many hours of orchestral music played loudly. This is supposed to vibrate the instrument at the frequencies it will generate in actual use. Like many things in life, the people who do it, love it…and the rest scoff at it or ignore it. Isn’t freedom great? Play on!
OK, we’ve established…
Oh, does this mean I have to be drunk when performing all of these experiments??
I tried blowing them in with the vacuum cleaner, but even with the room closed, I couldn’t stand the noise.
I think they learn to be a reed in the chanter while being played now.
Fancy,
I heard someone hooked their pipes to a vacuum cleaner and stuck 'em in the closet. Was that you ???
Noise isn’t a problem… for me.
I have access to a woodworking factory in an industrial park, complete with compressor, paint spray booth, regulated filtered air dryer system.
The consideration: does the reed need to be played in a constant range of notes to be broken in, or can a single note get the job done.
Perhaps a different note each night would be enough for the process.
Yep, that was me.
I just used a cork and let it crow.
I didn’t manage to rig anything that worked in a chanter. I don’t believe it will play with suction as I tried taping the holes and attaching the hose to the bell. I never could get it to sound that way.
Absolutely nothing wrong with it. As I said, I’ve considered doing this several times. It just that its a lot of messing aroung to get this set up, and I think you would have to be making a lot of reeds to make all this worth your while. As others have pointed out, there’s a lot of good things that can be learned with a setup like this, but you have to have the time, money and space to do it. If you can, I’d say go for it for sure.
djm
I have a drawing at home for such a lash-up, suction pump and all. I’ll try to post it later. To me, one of the joys of breaking in a new reed is to experience the changes it goes through during the process. 
(tounge-in-cheek)
Ted
I hate new reeds (for the first couple of months).
I recall seeing a device on ebay within the last year or two. It was made out of PVC. A rather large wall mounted contraption if I remember correctly. It was advertised for breaking in highland reeds.