Anybody tested these:
http://www.pipedreamsreeds.com/shop/Ezeedrone-Bagpipe-Drone-Reeds-For-Uilleann-Pipes-Key-of-D-Stand-p-16161.html
I have used them for years competing with Highland Bagpipes. Many of the top solo players use them also, few people use cane drone reeds anymore for the Highland Bagpipe. The orignal imitation cane reed were very coarse and not mellow enough, they have come a very long way needing next to no maintenance. The chanter reed is still cane, they haven’t been able to duplicate that sound, yet…
Very widely used in GHBs, as others have mentioned. I use Hendersons in mine, but I’ve tried the Ezeedrone reeds and like them as well. Some players perefer to put synthetics in the tenors and then use a cane bass to give the sound a bit more depth.
These could be helpful if you’re playing pipes in very adverse conditions, I suppose…As synthetic reeds were originally developed for GHBs to minimize cutting out and the need to frequently re-tune as is often the case with wet-blown cane reeds, they’re on the whole of less usefulness with dry-blown reeds–unless you’re out in the desert (or stuck in the middle of a Finnish winter, maybe). I’m sure they’re incredibly steady and reliable, but I think I’ll stick with cane myself…
I haven’t tried them in uilleann pipes, (yet, only a matter of time) but as far as bellows blown instruments, I use them in my border pipes and smallpipes. I’m from Maine and the dry winters were just killer on cane reeds. These pipedreams reeds sound great and stay sounding great. I love cane, i really do, but what sounds better? Drones that are playing steady with pretty darn good sound, or really great sounding drones that are wavering and shutting off?
I haven’t tried them in uilleann pipes, (yet, only a matter of time) but as far as bellows blown instruments, I use them in my border pipes and smallpipes. I’m from Maine and the dry winters were just killer on cane reeds. These pipedreams reeds sound great and stay sounding great. I love cane, i really do, but what sounds better? Drones that are playing steady with pretty darn good sound, or really great sounding drones that are wavering and shutting off?
I haven’t tried them in uilleann pipes, (yet, only a matter of time) but as far as bellows blown instruments, I use them in my border pipes and smallpipes. I’m from Maine and the dry winters were just killer on cane reeds. These pipedreams reeds sound great and stay sounding great. I love cane, i really do, but what sounds better? Drones that are playing steady with pretty darn good sound, or really great sounding drones that are wavering and shutting off?
I haven’t tried them in uilleann pipes, (yet, only a matter of time) but as far as bellows blown instruments, I use them in my border pipes and smallpipes. I’m from Maine and the dry winters were just killer on cane reeds. These pipedreams reeds sound great and stay sounding great. I love cane, i really do, but what sounds better? Drones that are playing steady with pretty darn good sound, or really great sounding drones that are wavering and shutting off?
Holy crap how did that happen? Did I get my point across?
After reading about them on the board, I ordered a set, absolutely first class service. Not really had chance to set then up properly yet, the baritone plays rock steady straight from the box, the bass will need a bit of encouragement to get down to pitch. The tenor, however is a different kettle of fish. Just make sure that you have enough clearance in your stock to fit the reed in. The overall outside diameter of the reed body is just under 10mm. I’m going to have to get the drill out! The only other fault I can find with them is the tuning screw isn’t completely airtight but a quick dab of cork grease appears to have sorted that one out.
Jon
Most of the pipers I know unscrew the tuning screw and put teflon tape around them and screw them back in, they are prone to air leaks. FYI those bridles are REAL sensitive, if you just barely move them you will hear a difference. Wow, you really gonna drill it out?
I took off the rubber that EZ drone uses on the part of the reed that goes into the tenor stock and replaced it with thin waxed dental floss…the reed seats nice in the stock now..maybe that will help for you too.
For what it’s worth, I got this response from Pipedreams:
Thank you for your e-mail. In answer to your question, the sizes of the
seats of our Ezeedrone reeds for Uilleann Pipes are as follows:
Bass 7.25mm
Baritone 6.25mm
Tenor 6.25mm
The above sizes include for a rubber covering on the seat part of the reed.
This may be removed and hemp applied instead if it is found that the seat of
the reed is too large. By removing the rubber covering, this reduces the
seat sizes as follows:
Bass 6.25
Baritone 5.10
Tenor 5.10
We should point out that the reed seats are parallel and not tapered.
We hope the above provides the information you require. Please let us know
if we may be of further assistance.
Kind Regards
Ronnie McShannon
I think john 1908 means that the total width of the reed is nealy 10 mm so that it might not fit into the bore of the tenor drone.
I dislike the sound of any synthetics - especially in the tenor. Don’t like the thought of modifying reed seats either. That tenor is definitely not going to fit, at 10mm… If you must try composite type reeds, there are other designs that are more likely to give decent results in the tenor.
Cane reeds can take awhile to settle in - months, even, but once settled I’ve known some cane quills to be stable in all sorts of weather.
Agree, but, for the french pipes they are OK. Because the drones of this one is designed for synthetics reeds.
UP drones are not disigned for this reeds. The bores are to big for them what gives gives a loud sound.
But the plastic resist a kinds of weather, what is a good thing.
Groeten,
Patrick
Just to clarify, the issue here is one of overall size, i.e. the total outside diameter of the reed body is too large for the size of bore in the mainstock. I too have had to remove the rubber sleeves from the reeds to enable them to sit tightly in the reed seats of my drones ( Ginsberg Rowsome style). As soon as there’s a warm day, I’ll be in the workshop and boring out the stock. A 1mm widening can easily be accomodated by the stock and a few extra turns of hemp on the drone tenon.
I’ll measure the outside diameter of all the reeds for everyone’s information.
just recieved a set of ezidrone reeds 10 mins setup and they are rock steady.
i removed all the rubber from the ends replaced it with hemp and they fit my drones nicely.
I will be offering them as an option in my pipes at no extra cost.
Agreed. It stands to reason that if your drone reeds are not behaving well due to climate issues, issues with them would likely pale in comparison to whatever horrid things your chanter reed is doing, and there are no magic plastic reeds to fix that…
Still, different strokes for different folks, I guess…I’m sure the Ezeedrone reeds sound just fine, but they’re not for me.
I see that you’re in Ireland. It’s easier to hold out for cane in a place where the humidity is relatively constant. Your “all sorts of weather” is very different from the sorts enountered in other places.
Here in SoCal the humidity, usually around 60%, can drop to less than 10% in a matter of minutes. Locals who are aware of it sense the taletale signs: first you hear a distinctive rustling of the leaves high up in the trees- dry leaves sound different than normal leaves. You’d better put your pipes in a plastic bag and put them in their case now! Because moments later you feel the warm dry breeze hit YOU. If this air hits your chanter reed it’s toast. I’ve had more than one chanter reed immediately and permanently collapse.
My own chanter reed was made of local cane and can survive and play fairly well in humidity as low as 20% (unlike Irish-made reeds). However, I have to stop using my drones in low humidity because the drones become very unstable. The pressure between different chanter notes, which does not affect the drones at 60% humidity, makes the drones vary wildly in pitch at low humidity.
So synthetic drone reeds are almost a must for many pipers who live in extremely dry parts of the world.
However, I’m a tad skeptical about EzeeDrones for uilleann pipes for two reasons 1) the company so far has had little experience with uilleann drones and 2) uilleann drone designs vary so much from maker to maker.
They’ve succeeded, through long experiementation, in coming up with a great GHB reed which works well in a wide variety of GHB makes. For Scottish smallpipes, they ended up developing a number of different reed designs to suit various makes, and if you have a smallpipe not made by one of these makes you need to send your drones to them to be fitted. Eventually, with more experience, they will probably develop a range of uilleann reeds so that a variety of makes can be fitted.
Now that the holidays are out of the way, I’ve finally managed to sit down and measure the reeds. All dimensions are in mm and are ‘out of the box’, apart from removing the rubber ‘seats’ which I’ve replaced with PTFE (plumbers tape) as they are a ‘snug’ fit in my drones. I’m posting these as an indication to tothers who may be considering buying a set of these and want to check that they’ll fit your pipes without taking the drill to them!
Tenor - Overall Length - 60 mm Overall diameter - 9.3mm Seat length 11mm Seat diameter 4.9mm
Baritone - Overall Length - 84 mm Overall diameter - 9.3mm Seat length 11mm Seat diameter 5.04mm
Bass - Overall Length - 100 mm Overall diameter - 9.65mm Seat length 13mm Seat diameter 6.3mm
I’d say that your bores in the stock should be at least 1 - 1.5 mm more than the overall reed diameter to allow for the tongue vibrating. I’ve had difficulties with the tenor reed not having enough room, I’ve bored it out to 10mm but it is still catching.
As a first impression though, they are a good steady alternative to cane reeds and shouldn’t be affected by temperature/humidty issues. O.K. they don’t have the tone of a good set of cane reeds, but they’ll do me until the elder I’ve cut dries out.