Alrighty then…
So I’ve been working on trying to get a consistant hard D note and have tried using a short piece of card rolled up in the throat of the chanter. It hasn’t done much for the hard D (I think I need to just make a slightly wider reed anyway) but that roll did seem to drop the tuning on the C# and B notes. Normal?
Also, I’m trying to remember what the roll of card has been suggested to cure when inserted between the E and F# holes?
Brian, that’s for hiding your VISA from the wife.
djm
As if she’d let me near it after buying the pipes in the first place right?!
Seriously though - anyone?
That would flatten the E a bit. Perhaps you are thinking of the roll of card in the bell trick to help get the hard bottom D. Also helps bring the soft and hard bottom Ds into tune a bit.
djm
Soft D… BAH!
PD.
Yeah Pat. Pretty much my sentiments too - which is why I’ve had such a time of it trying to get it to work on my chanter.
Well, I’ll keep plugging away and see what I come up with this weekend.
Bri~
Brian,
Are you using a rush at the bell-end of the chanter? You might try the O-ring method. (Soft D? We don’t need no stinkin’ soft D)
No E
No arguments from me. However, in the real world, you are going to hit the soft D from time to time, especially when you are jumping down to bottom D for a quick sixteenth note and then back up again. If your soft D is off 40-50 cents, it sounds really sour, and you are forced to do something about getting the two bottom Ds closer in tune.
When I am perfect I will probably never hit a soft bottom D, but I expect to be walking on water before that happens.
djm
So, here’s an interesting one, I use a supermarket vegetable bag twist tie in the bottom of my chanters to better attain a hard D, but for some reason, the twist ties made of paper over wire work much better than other twist ties that are plastic over wire. My guess is that the paper ones, being rougher, cause more turbulence…
I’ve noticed the same thing. It also seems like most of the paper twist ties are a little wider than the plastic ones.
Andreas Rogge uses a piece of bend yogurt carton in the bottom of the chanter to able to get the hard D to play better. On the reedmaking video by Allan Moller he also uses the bend yogurt or margarine carton to able to get the Hard D.
My D, B plumwood C snakewood chanters all have a good hard D with not a thing up the chanter but the D plumwood chanter has a piece of wax in note hole E so it will not be sharp or heading up to F nat.
My last to ebony D chanter need the bend yogurt carton.
The length of the yogurt or margarine carton after bending should fit up the bell of the chanter and the width should not be too wide but try different size widths.
Alright, but everytime I insert anything into the bell of the chanter (even something as small as a rush) it makes the bottom D autocran all over the place. If I move the bridle up or squeeze it open, my tuning is likely to go wonky. Is there a happy medium?
This is why I am so intent on trying to figure out what wmakes the hard D tick when building a reed so I can try to avoid the “sloppy quick fix” on my chanters from now on. I’m just not certain yet what all the elements are.
I’ve got a new reed done to the first scrape and will finish up the second scrape tomorrow with any luck. It’s got a slightly wider head than normal (approx .53" I think) and I’m going very slow on the scrape to see what happens as I remove more and more material.
I can easily get a hard bottom D just by giving a flick of the A as I lift off the knee, or just pressing a bit harder on the bag (Kirk Lynch chanter.)
No problems there at all, and yet, I really like the soft D on this chanter. It’s really nice.
But, the back d is a bit soft… just have to make a real little adjustment, somewhere, but where, where?
How that translates into UK English!! Hyuk Hyuk!!
Brian,
The staple/inner cavity of the reed is important. If you are making the staple too narrow in it’s flare, the blades are going to be laying closer together and that can make obtaining and holding Hard D a pain. There was a thread earlier (2 months?) about the lips having an effect on Hard D. I’m sure you know about the bottom of the scrape V’s effect on Hard D…??
You should be able to open a bridle with an increased desirable effect without wonkying your tuning, it’s the moving it up and down that’s a no-no. Try a small roll of card about 1cm ‘high’ at the bottom of the chanter, this tends to have less effect on notes above (the card between the e&f was for stabilising 2nd 8ve e and flattening low e). I’m quite adamant that the staple is most often to blame (provided you are using the correct measurements in the first place for the slip, you said your using Evertjans dimensions? they’re fine…)
And there’s a difference if your reeding flat or concert…Which are you using? Who made it etc.,
OT.. I just noticed recently how much an effect sanding the shoulders has on the inner curvature of the reed before you insert staples. the eye seems to widen, therefore meaning more scraping to get what you want, meaning things like loss of Hard, breaking back D etc.,I think trying to form the shoulders as best as possible before finishing the sanding/scraping of the slip could be of use. (This is actually something Pete Hunter did/does that I’d long forgotten about)
And shoving stuff up the chanter isn’t a ‘slpyy kwikfix’ (whatever slpyy means), we all have to do it on occasion. Better a roll of card than scrape the *** out of an otherwise good reed.
Alan
Do you have a new chanter? If you are trying to reed the same DD penny chanter you’ve always had, the one with the broken tube, and the one that also damaged your 3 new reeds, you might try another professionally made reed in the chanter first to make sure it’s even possible. That would be frustrating to find out later it wasn’t the reed, or the size of the bore.
Throughout your progress of making successful reeds, remember there are reeds that work, reeds that really work, and really really good reeds that Paddy still wouldn’t use.
That’s what I remember learning anyway. 
I’ve since ditched the Daye and now have a much more placid creature in a Pat Murray stick Lar. The reed it came with works pretty well all in all - guess I just wanted to work on my skill and see if I would ever be able to come up with something even better - someday.
And as I said, the reeds I’ve made have all been fair to even good in my expereince…just none that really shine as being superb. (I want to be Alan B when I grow up!) he he he But I’m just trying to keep a handle on what’s going on as I go.
Thanks for all the info so far guys! Please keep it coming.
B~