Just wanted anyone who didn’t already know, to be aware that you should seize any opportunity to attend Dave Hegarty and Jim Wenham’s reedmaking class at either the Willie Clancy Summer School or the St. Louis Tionól. The latter took place this past weekend, and I had the good luck to sit next to Dave for two entire days of coaching, demonstration, and individualized instruction.
This morning I put the finishing touches on the second of two working reeds I made with Dave, and it’s playing beautifully. Besides the tangible reward of having two new reeds, I’m now quite a bit more confident in all aspects of my reedmaking. (I had previously produced a grand total of one working reed, which I’ve learned is nothing to sneeze at, but it sure didn’t qualify me as an expert!)
Dave is a versatile, formidably-experienced, and kind instructor. He encouraged me to combine his methods and tricks with things I’d already learned from Tim Britton’s excellent method (about which he had nothing but positive things to say). Accordingly, I built on the things I was already doing effectively, started improving things I wasn’t so good at, and ended up with a method that feels especially natural for me – faster, too.
If you can believe it, those two working reeds came out of only five slips I worked on during the class. As anyone who’s attempted reedmaking can attest, 40% is an almost absurdly high rate of success. 
(We’ll see, whether I can maintain that rate. Doesn’t hurt to dream!)
So to Dave and Jim I say, thanks for an outstanding class!
–Mick Bauer
P.S. I didn’t work on reeds directly with Jim Wenham, but I certainly interacted with him – he’s very outgoing, skilled, thoughtful, that much I could see – and the folks at his end of the table had at least as much productive fun as those of us at the Hegarty end. I also had my first encounter with Wenham pipes, which look and sound beautiful!
