Having recently acquired a half set in B, I was surprised to find that the famous “ease of playing/lessened pressure” phenomenon seemed to be absent. I find myself feeling like maintaining the second octave is a battle with the pipes and high A requires a pressure that destabilizes the baritone drone. Now, I know that my fingering is probably a little sloppy since I had been playing a D stick, but my hands are large and the reach didn’t feel uncomfortable. Anyone have any thoughts on how to decide whether it’s me or the reed? I did close the lips a little, but it didn’t make the difference I thought it would.
Sounds like the reed, but I would check for leaks before doing anything drastic. Who made/reeded the set? Anyone local you can get a 2nd opinion from?
No E
It does depend on the maker, but in general a narrow bore chanter should be easier blowing than a medium-to-wide D.
Check EVERYTHING for leaks. Make sure all your connections are airtight.
Your reed may be in need of additional finishing, but do not do anything yet. Play it every day for a few weeks and see what happens…If it’s still like that a month from now, take it up with your pipemaker or reedmaker.
If this persists and you can’t get local expert opinion, you could hook up one of David D’s water-pressure meters
[ http://polarmet.mps.ohio-state.edu/~bdaye/presmetr.gif ]
to the set and compare notes. Unless you are playing an unusually light D stick, something sounds awry here.
- Bill
Thank you, gentlemen.