Synthetic drone reeds?

Uilleann Pipes
1

How difficult are they to make? Never tried, but I’m looking into the process now. Thanks,

2

Here something readymade stuff:
http://www.pipedreamsreeds.com/shop/Uilleann-Pipes-orderby0-p-1-c-254.html

(there was a thread about these reeds earlier, check comments)

3

They are not hard or expensive to begin making. They have quite a different sound than cane, I’m finding. I’m not sure I like that. They do seem to perform more consistantly, and play somewhat easier.

Here’s where I started:

http://www.songsea.com/syndronestopvalveplans.html

Once you make this, you should understand enough about the mechanics to experiment with other materials. This was really worth working through!

Then…

Here’s Tim Britton’s tutorial, “Making Tim Britton’s “Wood/Cane Composite” Drone Reeds”:

http://www.skep.com/britton/articles.htm#Drone%20Reeds

And this will give you lots of ideas:

http://www.bagpipejourney.com/articles/dronereedsid.shtml