My friend has what is apparently a Johnny Bourke E Flat chanter which needs a reed. Does anyone have any details they could send me regarding dimensions of staple and reed head for such a chanter? Thanks in advance,
DavidG
I am fairly certain that the ‘specs’ for a D reed work for Eb.
On the Reedmaking video by Allan Moller he has a list of chanter reeds Measurements.
Eb reed, Staple, 45.5 mm long, Staple ID 4 mm Eye of staple, 3 mm OD, Head 12 mm wide, 76 mm OAL
C# reed C Reeds Usually Work
C reed Staple, 55 mm long, Staple ID 3.2 mm Eye of staple, 2.5 mm OD, Head 11-12 mm wide, 80-82 mm OAL
B reed C Reeds Usually Work
Bb reed Staple, 60-65 mm long, Staple ID 3-3.2 mm Eye of staple, 2.5 mm OD, Head 11-12 mm wide, 82-96 mm OAL
D reed Staple, 47.5 mm long, Staple ID 4 mm Eye of staple, 3 mm OD, Head 13+ mm wide, 79 mm OAL
The above reed measurements do not work for my A Rogge and P Stones chanters.
Has anyone had any luck with Allan Mollers reed making video and using the above measurements.
All the best
Ferg
Thanks Joseph and Ferg…I’ll give a few D reeds a go and then have a go at the Allan Moller dimensions…let you know how I go…cheers
Eb reed, Staple, 45.5 mm long, Staple ID 4 mm Eye of staple, 3 mm OD, Head 12 mm wide, 76 mm OAL
For the Eb I just made I’d suggest the following. Try staple 48 - 50mm ID 4mm eye 2mm HW 11.8-12.5mm head as concert reed.
This is kinda similar with a longer staple. A D reed wouldn’t work properly in mine.
Some of the Taylor brothers chanters were considerably sharper of D than nowadays. I will dig out the dimensions. Sam’s post above immediately made me think of the Taylors, as their head widths are considerably narrower than Rowsome style reeds. I am currently reeding up a copy of Bill Och’s narrow bore Taylor D chanter and the head width I am working with on that one is 10.7mm, with a very long scrape. Staple is 3.8mm, spun out from 3.5mm ID brass tube.
Thanks again everyone…valuable info for me to work with
Cheers…
The Eb flat chanter is of the narrow bore size? around 14" inch in length, I think you may need a narrower staple bore size, some where around this I would have thought, staple length 45-46 mm, ID 3.20mm -3.30mm, eye height 1.30mm -1.50mm, mind you I mainly only play Concert pitch so I’m no Guru on the narrow bores. all the best.
I did not know this, learn something new every day. 
measure it’s throat size for us. Be very careful, if you don’t have a gauge then use the smooth end of a drill - very carefully use no force at all - and let us know what’s the biggest you can get down without any force.
If you have calipers then measure the bell with em.
Your to sharp Joseph 
watch you don’t cut yourself matey boy, 
No, I remember reeding a Eb boxwood chanter up around 16months ago, if I remember right I used a piece of copper tube from the model shop, I have found a peice left over from the job, size of the tubing I used is, ID 2.90mm, OD 3.38mm, staple 45mm in length, eye height 1.50mm, head width 9.80mm, slip thickness 0.70mm, if I remember right it was a smallish reed, and it was playing reasonble well if I remember right. all the best.
I think I confused the Eb chanter in this thread with an E chanter I reeded a while ago, and if memory serves me right, it was a wide bore chanter and a concert reed (slightly altered) did the trick. Getting older, memory not so hot… 
Yup..I have access to good chanter bore measuring gauges so I’ll try and get the measurements .