After lurking about for a bit, I have come to see this group as a fairly hospitable, helpful bunch; thus I am bold to ask advice. I have a Hughes and McLeod D half set and have been slowly and desultorily teaching myself over the last few years finally with some glimmers of success.
OOOps. I am a bit less than adept at this computer and sent things off a bit half-cocked. Sorry. However, I have modified most of my reeds to the point of no return. I have been making my own over the last year with lackluster results. Thus I humbly beseech any reed guru to give me some particulars, measurement wise , as to reeding such a chanter? Thanks. RCM
RC, welcome aboard !!
Don’t let the computer stuff bother you… at some point we’re all learning.
As far as reeds go, I don’t know the names Hughes and McLeod. Where are the pipes from and can you get them to make spare reeds ?
Do you have specifications of the shape and size the reeds should be cut to ? this would help anyone given the task to re-reed your pipes.
My usual advice on reeds is my pipemaker has made a few thousand reeds where I’ve made a few and his play way better than mine.
Tell me where you live and I might be able recommend a pipemaker who will re-reed your set. This may involve sending it to a pipemaker for the work to be done.
[ This Message was edited by: Tony on 2001-11-24 17:51 ]
Maybe just contact Robbie Hughes (I am not completely sure he is still is business but I think he is doing something). It’s always good practice to go to the maker of a particular instrument as he will know what type of reed the instrument takes.
Some pipemakers (and very wellknown ones too) still alter chanters to suit their reeds and that’s the last thing you need.
A Hughes chanter shouldn’t be too hard to fit by the way.
[ This Message was edited by: Peter Laban on 2001-11-25 08:55 ]
To be more specific, my Hughes chanter has had a definitely hard time getting into and maintaining the second octave. I work up a sweat and really have to work, although things are fairly well in tune. I have carefully read everything published and available, parsing each recommendation as carefully as Bill Clinton defining what “is” is; however, still a difficult second octave. I thought it had to be my technique, but, having recently gotten a David Daye penny chanter, I have found how easily a chanter can play. Thus, not to sound so much like a novice, it has to be the reed.
The chanter is in D, 362 mm long, 5mm at the top and 11 mm at the bell. I have made several relatively decent reeds according to Hegarty, Quinn, Britton,Gallagher "recipes"and the problem remains.
Is this in the category of narrow bore chanters? Should I make a Froment-type Coyne reed as described by Hegarty(47 mm staple, 3.2mm internal diameter, 11mm wide head, and short overall length of 77mm)?
Years ago Tom Kennedy wrote me with dimensions of the staple, noting a difference of Hughes staples, described as an inverse cone, and typical Quinn type staples.
To be sure, the easiest thing is to contact Robbie Hughes, but I did not want to bug him until I had tried to work things out myself. Thus, Am I missing some patently obvious point that everyone knows or just dealing with the usual “Piper’s Despair”?
Thanks RCM
Having another chanter to make comparisons is certainly a plus…
Is your Hughes and McLeod D chanter narrow bore ??
Does David Daye’s reed play in it ??
I measured one of my chanters from the tip of the reed to the bottom of the bell and it is about 436mm. I have three wide bore D chanters and they each vary in actual length from the reedcap ‘shoulder’ and amount the reed sinks in to tune but the dimension from the tip of the reed to bottom bell is nearly the same!! Also, the finger hole size and spacing is nearly exact. the diameter of the bore at the bottom is roughly 14mm
I measured a 13mm wide reed head and 75mm length… this recipe allows me to switch reeds between chanters with no tuning problems.
Some of my experiments in scraping the reed in a ‘V’ shape allows better high octaves but you have to be careful not to overscrape or the reed will become too sensitive to pressure changes. You can move the bridal up slightly and squeeze down so you acheive a proper reed lip elevation. The reed is under more tension with the bridal this way and it may shorten the life of the reed.
Last I heard, Robbie Hughes was still in business, down the Ards peninsula in Co. Down.
I’ve had a borrowed Hughes and MacLeod chanter for the past 6 months and it played fine…the reed is the key part.
This chanter was sent several hundred miles to a reed maker in England, and he did a good job…in fact he has reeded lots of different chanters and always seems to do a good job.
[I’ve handed it back to it’s owner in the past week…sort of miss it, but new toy to play with now]