Has anyone familiar with reeding this chanter? If so; rolled or tubing, and/or any rough dimensions?
Thanks
OMG!!! Please… I am desperately trying to find out the same thing! (A concert pitch chanter, right?). We should talk and I will share with you what I have found out! Email me or find me on FB (under Arbo).
There was a guy passed through Newcastle a few years ago who’s name i’ll remember later played one of these. With Riverdance at the time.
Anyway His chanter sounded ACE and bang in tune although i think he’d messed a good bit with the holes/flatted the front off etc. But anyway his reed looked HUGE to me at the time and i’m certain the staple was both long and rolled and the head also looked long and well over 13mm. Sounded great though and taught me that the hard and soft D could be better in tune than i had appreciated/put up with until then.
Having said that i have another mate local to the northeast with 2 RH chanters and the reed from one will not work in the other by a long shot.
Hmm maybe that wasn’t all that helpful thinking about it…
Good luck
A
Is he not answering his telephone? The one listed by NPU?
I emailed him a couple of times with this very question and never heard back from him directly. Somebody else did respond after the second email saying that Robbie would get back to me. That was months ago. I have not made a further attempt.
Found this at Evertjan 't Hart’s Uilleann Pipes Reed Making Guide.
I have tried this reed, of course, in my own Charles Roberts chanter but also in chanters from Dave Williams, Robby Hughes and Brain Howard. And in all it worked like a dream. So there is a fair change that it will work in other “generic D” chanters as well.
http://www.hartdd.com/reedmaking/Intro.html
And this thread from '01;
https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/reeding-a-hughes-and-mcleod-chanter/1655/1
For what it’s worth, the two Hughes D chanters i have owned worked very well with Pat Broderick/Andreas Rogge/Charles Roberts/Hegarty reeds.. If memory serves me the original staple was rolled, and it had a sturdy copper bridle. But again, the reeds mentioned above worked as well as/better than the original one.
My own Robbie Hughes chanter (30 years old) requires a rolled tapered staple and a narrow head (11.5 - 12 mm). It works very well with reeds made after Tim Britton’s “My Method”.
For contacting Robbie, telephone is probably better than email.
I’m a long time lurker on the forum and have seen several people asking for Robbie Hughes dimensions for reeds and always meant to post my notes from the Belfast tionol a few years ago when he took the reed making class. Hopefully my hapless scribing that day will be of some use to someone, as I don’t have a Hughes chanter! I find myself using bits and pieces of his technique in my reedmaking anyway, so if anything at least, this will be a summary of a reedmaking technique.
- The straight slip (d-section slip) is 4 ½ “ long. ½” wide
- Flex to test the rigidity. Should flex easily (shouldn’t be stiff)
- Gouge down the middle, then sides, cutting less with each stroke
- Place a stanley blade or steel rule flat against the gouged out section, hold to the light and ensure its the same profile throughout
- Gouge out the tails, 1” either end of the slip.
- Don’t touch either side of the slip for 3/8” from the middle (each side).
- Sand down from the 3/8” (from the mid-point), down to the tails with a piece of sandpaper wrapped around a wine cork. He was using 120 grit sandpaper.
- Rub the length of the slip flat on a piece of sandpaper a few times.
- Cut slip in half.
- Lash with waxed thread at the top
- Pare down the tails into a triangle shape from the 1” mark down, aligning with the centre line.
- Remove the bark from the 1” mark down, by placing sandpaper over your finger and rubbing the tails against it
- Wet the tails with your tongue
- Insert the staple to 7/8” from the bottom of the tails
- Wrap clingfilm around the staple and tails to hold it in place
- Test the reed will close by pressing in the middle of the reed and examining the aperture at the lips
- Cut 2 arms length of waxed thread
- Tie the reed as tightly as possible for the first ½” then lay off the pressure
- Tie up to the top of the staple
- Test for leaks
- Take the lashing off from the top of the reed
- Scrape from ¼” above the binding to the lips
- Test the reed
o If octave is flat: Unbind. Sand infront of staple area lightly on both slips with the wine cork wrapped with sandpaper
o Flat pitch overall: Lift reed up from reed seat. If flatness continues, snip the lips.
o Sharp pitch overall: Sink reed into reed seat
o If octave or back D sharp: Sand the sides infront of staple area
o Staple: Close the eye to sharpen back D (or flatten area above the staple)
If the staple eye is too big = flat and broken back D
I don’t have any dimensions for the staple. It wasn’t a rolled staple though, he was using the standard brass tubing that day. Don’t stick very strictly to these measurements and details, as Robbie did a lot of this by touch!
Damien
Hello Damien, welcome to the forum.
Nice first post! 
Thanks! There are some good things in there that I can use!
Robbie Hughes has done a few reedmaking classes at the Belfast Tionól.
First time I saw him he was rolling this staples at the class.
Then when I was at few more reedmaking with Robbie at Belfast Tionól he started to use hobby brass tubing to save time at the reedmaking classes.
He now uses no bridle on this reeds at all.
This is from memory
Slip 4.5" long
Staple 60mm long
Head 12.5mm - 13mm wide.
All the best
Ferg
much thanks!