I’m quite new here, in the piper’s section, and already
telling you about my problems with the pipes -
does that make me a true piper?
Now seriously: My chanter is in perfect tune till I pass the low A.
The B, C#, C, and high D sound horrible. Could it be that the chanter itself
is out of tune or the reed?
Also, sometimes I have to yank the bag really hard to
get those high notes. Is it just my technique or the reed?
Also Also, my bellows always “spit” the plastic valve out, I keep
adding more and more teflon string but it doesn’t solve it completely.
Any suggestions?
Teflon is a lubricant and squashes easily. You need to get rid of it and replace it with unwaxed hemp. If you have not got any then you could use plain cotton or unwaxed dental floss.
Thanks for the answer Mike. No seller here has ever heard of “hemp” though it is translated into “marijuana” in the dictionary.. so I won’t bother asking for that…
I’ll go for the unwaxed dental floss, though I remember that last time I tried it it didn’t stick.
I pretty much know most of the active pipers here, though I’d
be happy to hear about more! Two tested my set - first one said it’s quite nice (but he owns the same set so it was easy for him to say that) and the other one didn’t quite manage to get a decent sound out of it.
I’ve been playing on this set for around 3 months now
and slowly getting the hang of it, so now all I need is to see
if the trouble I’m having is due to bad technique, reed or chanter…
By “hemp” I mean yellow hemp. It is available from bagpipe suppliers, and your local music shop should be able to get it for you.
You need to check a few things on your set. If the previous owner of the set can get it to play and neither you nor the other piper can get a decent scale out of it then the reed may be set up too hard. A reed for a beginner should not be set up too hard.
Have you ever been able to get a scale out of it? Check that the reed is not open too much. The opening in the lips should be around 1mm or so. Do you have a spare reed that you could compare it to?
While you have the valve out of the bellows check that the leather flap is hanging down and that the flap seals shut properly. Check that the valve on the end of the blowpipe inside the bag is also hanging downwards and seals properly as well. Take the chanter out of the stock and seal up the opening with your finger. Then pump up the bag and check that the bag is not leaking. Any loss of air from bag, bellows or clack valve will make the set harder to play. I am assuming that you have a practice set. If you have a half set then there could be leaks in other places too.
Crikey!! Divide that by 4 please. Maybe the blades and the gap together should be about 1mm.
Frog,
Perhaps if you post details of the chanter make, the reed make, and exactly what is ‘horrible’ about the notes you mention (do the notes croak, bend, honk, wobble etc.,)?
Another thing to take into consideration is, as you stated Mr. frog, you are desert bound and that may be a big part of the problem. Your reed may not like the arid climes.
Have you tried to play the other pipers chanters? This may be a good way to tell if you or the reed is the main issue.
Leaky bellows may be something to consider as a contributor to the problem. A leaky bag or a leaky chanter cap are other things that really can make a difference. Check to see if the bag and the fit of the chanter cap to the chanter aren’t leaking.
Since I don’t have a spare reed I won’t be touching mine for the now. I don’t have any access to reed makers and if this one breaks
due to bad handling, I’m done for
They don’t sell bagpipes in Israel so I can’t get yellow hemp
anywhere. I’ve seen one at NPU so I might order some from there at
some point.
The reed itself is wide bore, 12-13mm wide, the notes above A just
sound too flat (or is that too sharp?). I’d love to get an opinion about my chanter and reed (scanned the reed, recorded a full scale):
That scale doesn’t sound dangerous for an concert chanter. Without knowing how hard it is to blow, it’s difficult to say exactly what to do to remedy.
You do need to adapt to your individual instrument, learn to shade notes, alter pressure etc.,
The one thing that does stick out, is that the high B is quite sharp, not an uncommon peculiarity. If you are not happy to touch your reed, just tape the notehole. Otherwise, if it’s on the hard side to blow, having the blades closed a little will help bring the 2nd 8ve high notes down a bit (don’t expect miracles). Seeings as it’s a wire bridle, ask Joe about adjusting them.
If you’ve been playing for just a few months, keep practising. I’ve heard lots lots worse than your soundclip..
If it’s just the high B that sounds problematic, I think that means I’m in a good state for now As for adjusting the blades- as I’ve said before, I need another reed, so i’ll try to tape the B for now.
This style bridle is adjustable, much like a sliding copper/brass bridle.
The red dots indicate where on the bridle you want to use leverage (fingernail) to either move it up or down the reed head.
Do this gently and a little bit at a time. Toward the lips opens the reed, toward the shoulders closes the reed.
Additionally, by carefully applying pressure with a pliers (and I mean very carefully) to the edges of the bridle (also indicated by the red dots, and see photo below), you can further close down the reed if sliding the bridle all the way to the shoulders doesn’t close it enough. But if you close the edges, do so when the bridle is further up toward the lips (preferably when the bridle is sitting over the ‘scraped’ area), otherwise you can split the reed.
Sorry for the blurry image, but I think you can see what I am getting at…
Remember, do all things in moderation, never “force” anything.
It will take a little fiddling around with, adjusting in baby steps, to reach results that should work for you.
BTW, things didn’t sound too bad at all, and I am confident you’ll be able to remedy much of the issues at hand.
