I have 3-4 tubes of Calif cane, some from Ted (via a dear friend in WV) and someone at the Chapel Hill NC tionol gave me another good feeling tube.
I haven’t started any reeds from them yet, but when I get some good reeds made (thinking C set chanter / regulator reeds here), and If I get some good ones, hopefully Ted will have more at hand.
I loaned out a good reed of his and somebody mouth-blew it and killed it.
Sometimes it pays not to be kind to other uilleann pipers…but that was the only exception I have found, thank goodness.
It is elitist. This years supply is very limited. Next year I can offer larger quantities. In the past I could only supply a small amount of reedmakers at all. I am trying to make it more widely available. Medir has tons of cane. There are lots of cane sources. Some are not happy with what they can get from other sources. I have heard from a number of pipers who say they would be happy to give $5 to $20 per tube in order to get the tone quality from a reed that they can only find in this cane. Even at 4 tubes per order, I will soon sell out and there is another year wait for any more. I wish it were different. I don’t want to see that what little there isn’t wasted, therefore I only ask you to order if you can already make reeds. Would you rather I ask $10 per tube? That would certainly limit the orders. Pipes are expensive too. There are lots of makers and the quality varies a lot. Established good makers have long wait lists, but they keep on selling. Many times I go 300 miles to cut cane and only return with a few tubes. I make far less than minimum wage at $2 per tube. It is almost a miricle that I am offering this cane to all. If you don’t like what I am doing, don’t buy any.
eric,
This cane likes a .040" to 0.45" thick gouge at center. The harder of it wants a thicker gouge (0.045"). Some of it will begin to crow with only a small amount of scrape. The biggest mistake is to over scrape it at the outset. You should end up with a thicker reed than with harder cane, so go slowly and try it in the pipe sooner than you would with harder cane. As it is softer, less or no extra gouging is needed to accomodate the staple. It also is much less translucent, so you can’t judge your progress by holding it up to the light. Some do’t find they like this cane at all. Most love it.
I have been making reeds for over 40 years. I have used every kind of cane from all over the world: Spain, France, Mexico …you name it.
I can state catagorically that the California cane is the best. Ted has been picking this stuff for years and I trust him completely. If he says the cane is good, then its good and that is that.
That said, there are many times when you can only get one good reed out of a tube of cane. One side of the tube may have gotten more sun, the other side may have dried out too much. By the way $2.00 is reasonable even if the occassional tube does not turn out. If you want perfect then try stainless steel.
$2 p/tube is a giveaway for this cane. If I ordered only one tube, I’d be glad to send a $10 bill along with postage and ask Ted to keep the change. To get a good copper rolled staple, custom made, from an order supply…that is also quite an offer. I’m just kind of guessing here, but did I hear you say, Ted, that you also make custom reeds if someone sends you their chanter?
Reeds will also soon to be offered. I am rebuilding a cabin on my new property to be ready for winter, so I am too busy for such at the moment.
Brian Lee- most anyone can order 4 tubes at the moment. You say you have some success already. That is good enough for me. I am just asking people who have never been successful in making reeds to learn on more readily available cane. One does not need to have reeded some “famous piper’s chanter” to ask me for cane. Since it is presently in such short supply, I have asked people to self select whether or not to buy what little there is based on my suggestion. Let’s say you wanted to try my cane, and have been making a good percentage of your attempts work. You decide to order my cane to see what differences you will find with it. You write to me, only to find I sold all I had to someone who has never made a successful reed to date. He would gain little from having bought out my supply and you would not be able to get any at that point. I have never made a public offering of this cane before, and want a larger number of people to be able to enjoy its benefits. This cane has been well known about among professional makers and players for over 25 years. Leo Rowsome used to use it in preference to any European cane. Most have been kind enough to me to not tell everyone about it, or write about it, so as to keep it available for their own use, and for those who have been making the most of it. Ask anyone who has used it what they feel about it. That may be considered elitist, but I am now departing from that tack to let more players benefit from it. That is anything but elitist. “It’s all in the reed” has been seen on a number of posts lately, and I will add that the tone color of a reed that works good, is all in the cane. This is the only cane that is source selected exclusively for UP and other dry-blown pipes. It is probably not worth a sh*t for wet reeds, which is what most other cane available is targeted for. I won’t bother to again name all the makers and players who rave about it. Try it for yourself.
