My Uilleann pipe chanter reed sounded very good when I played it yesterday. However, I took the pipes out of the case today and the back D was extremely flat, almost to the point of sounding a C #. In addition the reed had closed up a great deal. I did transport the reeds in my car for a few hours in cold weather and then brought them into my apartment where the heat was on higher than they were used too. I’m relatively new to uilleann pipe reed adjustments so I don’t want to do something that will ruin the reed. Right now I have the pipes in the case and I put a sponge in the case because I thought maybe the reed had just dried out too much. Is there anything I can do to fix the problem without taking the pipes to a reed maker?
Thanks
Jesse
You’re doing the right thing. Most likely the reed dried out on the car trip, and then was exposed to the probably very low humidity in your apartment. Keep the sponge in the case, but make sure that it is barely damp, not wet, and keep a careful eye out for signs that things are getting too much moisture. The reed should open up a bit once it is hydrated. After giving it a few days to stabilize, you can make adjustments with the bridle if needed. Often when reeds are subjected to extremes of humidity or dryness all they need is a bit of time in a more hospitable environment to come around.
When the air here in Southern California gets too dry, I take a face towel, mist it a couple of times with a spray bottle and put it in my pipe case with a layer of dry fabric between the towel and the pipes. Just that little bit of moisture seems to do the trick for me.
Thanks! It sounded much better today, but after about 10 minutes of playing the reed started to close again and the back D started getting flat. Hopefully it stabilizes more over the next few days. Thanks again.
Unfortunately it’s that time of year again. The humidity dropped a good 30% here a few days ago and almost all of the 10 reeds I made lately now have chirpy back D’s. They were all fine a week ago.
Once you play for a few minutes the dry air goes through the reed and takes out all the moisture.
You could cut a few square inches from an old hand towel and dampen it, not wet just dam to the touch. Tie a piece of string around it. Now remove the bellows valve and place the cloth in the bellows. Hang the string outside the bellows and replace the valve. You’ll hang the string out so you can pull the cloth out.
This will moisten the air going into the bellows a little and you’ll have to re-dampen the cloth every few days.
Again don’t have the cloth too wet because you don’t want to ruin the leather.
Or you could buy one of these and do the same thing. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/dampitlrg?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=none&gclid=CKn_77jW8LMCFSOnPAodAgsAiA
All the best.
Tommy