Anyway, I would be extremely grateful if someone could help me with the reed problems I am having.
I have just started to make my own reeds but am having fierce trouble with the pitch.
With my upper hand all the notes tend to be 40 - 50 cents flat, whilst back D is bang on. The lower hand produces notes that are in pitch, albeit that I have to squeeze the bag to force E into correct pitch.
The upper octave is way too sharp.
My latest reed measures 82.5mm, has a 52.5mm staple with a 1.6mm eye.
Go raibh mile maith agat.
Maitiú
Does anybody have any suggestions, before I hang meself with the fecking things.
This is a opportunity to learn something about chanter reeds.
My first wild guess is that the staple is stuck too far into the head. This tends to increase the internal volume relative to the length, which will sharpen the upper octave**. It also makes the reed shorter, so you end up setting it out farther away from the fingerholes. This has the effect of “expanding” the scale, so the upper hand notes are flatter than the bottom notes.
My advice is to take careful notes on the reed dimensions as it is now, and the distance of the lips from the chanter top. Also the pitches being produced. Then insert the reed further into the chanter top, and note the relative pitch changes.
Then I would try pulling the staple out 2 millimeters, rewrap, then measure everything again. You may be able to do it again to 4 millimeters, but there is a limit.
I also suspect that once you do all this you will experience some “new” problems because my Spidey sense tells me that the reed lips are too thick. But try the staple adjustment first.
** Not only is the ratio changed even if the inside space stays the same, but the point where the taper of the staple begins may be pushing up the tails, increasing the elevation of the two halves of the reed.
I’m a little confused about what your problem is - you say your upper hand notes are flat, yet your upper octave (upper hand) is sharp. Therefore, I must assume that you only have a flatness problem in the first octave (correct me if I’m wrong).
There are lost of reed adjustment guides out there (David Daye’s springs to mind). I used David’s document when I started making reeds as it told me what adjustment was required for very specific problems. It also has a ‘side effect’ column, which doubles up as a fault finder when you’ve created a side effect so as to avoid doing it again. I don’t know where to find it on the web as I printed it about two years ago.
Without knowing all the other things going on with your reed, I’d say that it needs more scraping/sanding and that the bridle needs moving lower (if there’s room to do so). Moving the bridle down and closing the reed a bit will (should) flatten the second octave, but will make the upper hand in the first octave flatter. However, closing the reed will counteract this, making the upper hand of the fisrt octave sharper. There are lots of compromises to consider so I stongly suggest that you take advantage of the wealth of info on the internet about reed making. If you can’t find what you need on sites, you can ask specific questions in this forum (just give as much info as you can think of to help us work out the root of your problem). I learned most of what I needed to learn form the net and this forum with a bit learned through experience.
Good on you for deciding to make your own reeds - it’s a really valuable skill to learn as a piper and really hones your reed adjustment skills. Good luck on your long road to that beautiful reed that you will eventually make.
You said that the low 8ve is ok around D - G and then the notes above are 1/4 tone flat? Hows the relationship between C & C#? With all the good info you’ve been given so far about staple/reed insertion I’d give it a whirl. Also perhaps (depending on your staple length) try a shorter staple. The idea of this is to first concentrate on getting 1 8ve in tune, as you sound to be all over the shop at present. One little thing, if you have to whack the bag to get E into tune, perhaps the reed is set too open? If it all remains a chronic problem, try a staple with ID of 3.5 - 3.7mm?? (I have used this as a cure for certain chanters, in essence making a C# reed that is sharp, then rush the chanter to get into pitch).
I thought about my reply later on and I realized that I didn’t make my point clear enough. Your particular situation is a good one for learning about the effect on pitch of non-destructive changes in:
distance of lips out of reed seat
overall reed length relative to staple length.
Well-formed reed heads are pretty agreeable to retying of staples. As Alan suggests, a new (shorter) staple may be in order**. But don’t let the opportunity pass you by for learning the effect for yourself of these changes. Many adjustments affect both octaves but to different degrees, which is partly why reed making seems so difficult. Even if you have to start all over, taking careful note of the dimensions and the effect on pitch of these changes will get you closer to having a great reed. What you don’t want to do is flail around in the dark each time.
Eric
** and possibly thinner scrape/lips after that. But that’s another issue.
I’ll try and move the staple to see exactly what happens.
To answer your questions:
The chanter is a Gremlin chanter which I have measured before wasting my time trying to make a reed for it. I measured in on a Renishaw digital scanner (courtesy of work) and, believe it or not, all dimensions are very near to the ones D. Daye detailed affer measuring a Rowsome chanter, pity it wasn’t a Rowsome chanter.
Unlike previous Gremlin chanters, the length of the chanter is 363.5 or 14 5/16". The taper appears to be alright as well.
Anyway, enough waffle.
The length of my staple is 52.5mm. I used the same recipe as D. Williams (God rest him) used for his D chanters.
Again, your advice and experience is very much appreciated as the auld patience is starting to wear thin.
Hallion,
I’ve found that David Daye chart I mentioned. I would expect that it will be useful to you in finding the right specifications and scrape shape that work best for you. Remember that hard cane will need to have a wider base end of the scrape and more of a scoop shape into it, while softer cane will require the opposite.
