I recently acquired a nice half-set of pipes but the chanter reed that came with it stubbornly won’t go into the second octave with anything above high E.
I don’t know much about reed adjustment other than what I learnt with the highland pipes (which of course only have one octave)… so can anyone help?
The pipes were apparently sitting unplayed for a couple of years.
Maybe your bridle is much too open. This causes “killing” loudness. A set of Uilleann Pipes should be about as loud as a fiddle. For adjusting the bridle I do not use pliers but this wee screw clamp (generally used for building models). I found this more useful cause you can see what happens when screwing. You can´t split the reed (especially when opening the bridle).
Thanks Hans, I’ll give that a go!
Hans, interested in your screw clamp idea for adjusting reeds.
A picture of this item would be useful if you could arrange to post one.
Thanks and best regards…Allen
I don’t have a screw clamp but I tried with some pliers… maybe I went too far because the reed blades fully closed, so then I backed off a bit and tried them out. The whole operation was a bit crude! They seemed a bit quieter, but the octave problem remains.
I’ll play around with it a bit more and see what happens.
Are the sides of the reed leaking? Suck on the staple while holding the blades closed. Any loss of air will make the higher octave very difficult to reach and maintain. You can rub a little beeswax into the sides to seal small leaks.
Also check the very ends of the blades. Abandoned reeds may curve open at the lips slightly and can be difficult to close again. An application of superglue with a needle may fix the problem, but a new reed may be the only answer.