Hey Guys, I’ve been playing the pipes for quite a few years now. However I still struggle to keep the regulators in tune. I certainly know how to go about tuning the pipes with ‘basic’ to not so advanced tweaking. But I haven’t learn’t much about more ‘advanced’ regulator tuning techniques.
I’ve found a lot of ‘advanced’ tuning information on chanter reeds, such as sanding and reed trimming and Ive been experimenting with them over the years as required. However is there some information somewhere about more ‘advanced’ drone and regulator tuning? Especially on the internet If so, that’d be extremely helpful…
If not would some reed makers like to coordinate together to put this information online.
Tuning the regs can be a nefarious business to say the least. With the exceptions of rushing the bore or putting wax in the holes most of the “advanced tuning” comes down to the steeple of the reg reed.
The bore and the eye apeture of the steeple are the most critical aspects of this style of tuning. The article by Geoff Wolff explains this very well.
To flog a dead horse, to tune the regs the chanter and drones MUST be in perfect tune and balance. If not the regs will always be out of tune. Again this is detailed very well in Dave Hegartys reedmaking guidance manual.
If you have any specific queries regarding particular problems post them up, perhaps I or someone else may be able to help.
Hey…its not a problem with the chanter or drones. Both are bang on and the chanter has no tape or rushes in the bore of the chanter. What seems to cause the problem on the regulators is on the Tenor regulator the B note sinks and is very hard to blow. On the baritone regulator the reed has a tendency to jump an octave. However if I open the baritone reed open more the reed tends to be very flat.
About a month or so ago Adelaide had a massive heat wave and the reeds in the regulators haven’t been quite right since. Any thoughts? Could a week of 40’C dry northerly heat killed the reeds.
