Prompted by a recent thread about drone reeds, I ordered a set of cane drone reeds for my (Coyne copy) Rogge C# set from C&F contributor Ted Anderson. I’ve always fallen back on synthetic reeds (cane composite or otherwise) and have never really given cane reeds a chance, thinking them too difficult to break in, adjust, etc. Synthetic reeds were so user friendly they left me to deal with all the other complexities of our beloved instrument.
Well, I ordered the reeds and, despite the fact that I live on the east coast of the US and Ted lives in California, they arrived within a couple of days. Ted also included in the package linen thread, sealing wax (for tongue ballast) and the really sticky black wax to form a good seal when the reeds are in the drone sockets. When I first tried them out they would either not sound at all or close up after minimal pressure so I was thinking 1. this may be due to the weather difference between California and Maryland and/or 2. this is why cane reeds are often avoided by people – they’re just too finicky to get to work. So I emailed Ted.
Ted promptly responded and talked me through the first steps. I eventually got one going, then had another problem. Again, I emailed Ted and he offered advice that moved me along further. This step was repeated a couple of times and I finally had a working, stable reed in my tenor drone. I repeated the process with the baritone reed and discovered that the reed that was sent was probably too big to get the right tone, so Ted sent me another to replace it and I went through the steps and got that one working well. Then, I got lucky with the bass drone reed and it seemed to work right off the bat (or, perhaps, I’d learned something and applied several steps at the beginning and got the desired result immediately). In any event, I had all three going and now I just needed to play them in a bit.
So, I’d cork up two and play with one and adjust the bridle (Ted uses small rubber bands that are easy to move and adjust) to suit my chanter’s pressure. Then repeat the process with the other two. Now I’m playing them in all together.
Whoever made the comment about the complex sound vs. a transformer buzzing was spot on regarding the difference. It now seems like a completely different set (before it was glorious, so I don’t even know how to put this into words) – the drones form a medium around you that embraces the chanter and accents this or that tone or overtone. Had I know that this would be the result I would have paid several times more than the price of the drone reed set. Needless to say, I highly recommend contacting Ted and giving his reeds a go. It’s worth the education and difference in the sound obtained.
