Hi all,
I have a strange problem with my reed. It is reluctant to play C natural at normal bag pressure. While playing at normal pressure as you go up the scale, C natural sounds dull and way out of tune, but if I ease off the pressure it begins to come back into tune. All other notes are perfect including C#. Anyone any ideas on this, because I’m at a complete loss and I don’t want to ruin an otherwise spot on reed,
thanks,
Mark.
Mark,
Who made the chanter and has the reed always been like that??
Alan
Alan,
chanter is by Michael Dooley. The reed which I made myself was not always like this. The back D was a little weak so I placed a dot of super glue on the reed to strengthen the back D which worked a treat. Since then I have problems with the C natural note. Also another thing which might help the diagnosis, after about 20 minutes or so the problem seems to be pretty much gone. I’ve had a scan through the troubleshooting guide in Dave Hegarty’s book, but its not one of the listed problems,
fingers crossed you know what it is,
Mark.
Mark,
Have you tried different fingerings for the C-natural? You might be able to cross-finger into tune, especially since your C# is OK.
No E
hm…i had a similar problem where the c AND high d were flat…found that i had the reed too far down. added a little dental floss to the bottom winding and let it sit up a little farther and solved the problem completely. sounds like that might be a little different from your problem however, but doesn’t require any modification to bridles et cetera, and if that doesn’t solve it you can always take the floss off and let the reed sit at its original depth.
Mark,
Interesting… Did you apply the glue to the scrape? Or to the sides? I’ve come across technique of rebuilding the weight of blades to improve Back D etc., and why shouldn’t it work (a well known piper of merit I know used to have bits of yoghurt carton glued onto his reed) If it’s improving as you play, I guess there’s something in the shape of the blades that isn’t happy when cold. Have you tried opening the blades a little? If that’s strengthens the C and improves tone, I guess they could have collapsed at some point. If you made the reed yourself, make another and see what happens, or at least rebind the one you made to restrengthen it. I can’t think of anything glaringly obvious save for leaks somewhere… Best keep those fingers crossed 
Oh another is to check if you have any leaks around keys on the chanter if you have any…
Alan
If I kept better notes I’d know exactly what to suggest (as I’ve seen this myself).
Do try to check your overally pitch - some weird C/C# instabilities can creep in if your pitch is way off.
After confirming your pitch - sounds as though the reed may be a little too stiff to drop to the Cnat. At the risk of bringing back the original problem, you might try minute thinning of the area where you applied the superglue.
Does moving/opening the bridle effect the result notably?
Alan, billh,
thanks for the suggestions,
I applied the glue to the scrape. Looking at your picture of the reed Alan, I applied the glue midway between the bridle and the smile and it worked a treat, the back D is rock solid. I have tried opening up and closing down the reed but to no avail, if anything closing it down seemed to be slightly better.
Last night while I was practising I did notice that the problem was not as bad as normal, so I think I may leave well enough alone, and just keep playing for a few weeks and maybe it might play itself back to normal.
Other than that I think billh’s suggestion of taking a minute shaving off the applied superglue could well be the way forward,
thanks again for the suggestions,
Mark.
Leaks in the sides/bindings can give weird troubles.
Try running a seam of white wood glue (Elmer’s brand or beeswax if you want to stay traditional) along the edges of the reed.
Scrub the binding with beeswax and then scrub with something smooth to melt the wax into the bindings.
That is always my first aid treatment for weird reed troubles.
I had a reed (wide bore D chanter) that would play C# when fingering C natural. Opening the eye a little improved both that and my back D as well.