I rushed my chanter reed to help correct my sharp second octave. This helped a lot, but then my back D became weak and sinks down before going in tune. How can I keep my rush in but also correct this sinking D problem?
~Andy
Have you experimented with different lengths and gauges of wire for the rush? Also, different positions for the rush (eg. shorter wire but further into the staple)?
I have not. I’ll have to try that. How thick of a rush can I use? It would be nice if I could completely correct my sharp second octave. I’ve heard of some people gluing a matchstick on the inside of the staple. Has any got that to work?
I could consider a match stick would be very big. I use a single strand of 24 gauge wire (20 gauge would be the maximum that I would try). If it takes more than that to correct a sharp second octave, I’d try retracting the staple a tiny bit from the reed head (eg. 1 mm) and if that didn’t work, I’d change the staple for a smaller one.
My second octave without any rushes 30-40 cents sharp with some notes, especially the A and B. Will it be possible to correct this big of a difference with a new staple Or is it a fault with the chanter?
30 cents exceeds what I’d consider the safety limit for using a rush. 
I doubt if it’s a problem with the chanter. If the upper octave is noticably sharp, compared with the lower octave, the most likely cause is that the diameter of the staple is too large (too much internal volume). Using a rush effectively reduces the internal volume of the staple, but this can only help to a certain point. If the rush is too big, it’ll interfer with the flow of air and that could muck up the weaker notes (back D, C# and Cnat).
Sharp high A and B are often an indication that the staple needs to be tapered more along its length.
The more I think about it, the more I suspect the problem is in the staple.
If you make reeds, and can roll a staple, try rolling a staple from a slightly narrower blank. You might be able to recycle the reedhead onto the new staple. Otherwise, see if you can find a reedmaker to have a look at your chanter.
One final point: don’t do anything drastic to your reed (or, for that matter, to your chanter) if the weather where you live is hot and humid. Humidity can get into the cane, causing it to swell, raising the pitch of the chanter and exaccerbating back D issues. So before you go mucking up a perfectly good reed, wait for the weather to break.
Something that I tried in this situation was to cut a short section of a plastic drinking straw around 20mm long, and then cut out about a 1/5th section from it length. You should be able to slide the straw up inside the staple now effectively reducing the staples internal size. This is one way to test if you have a staple size problem.
It might if your lucky sort out your problem! It should definitely flatten the upper octave. Remember to leave a small section of straw proud of the end of the staple so that you can pull it out with tweezers should it not help.
The other thing that i have found personally is that playing around with different bridles has a huge impact on reed issues. Just this morning I had a reed with the upper octave sharp. I changed the bridle and the second octave got a lot closer to being in tune but then I acquired a wobbly Back D. Further playing with the bridle got the Back D stable and and the upper octave pretty sweet. (well for today anyway!!)
In what way did you adjust your bridle on your reed phil? Does it make a difference where along the scrape the bridle is?
Sorry Andy, a couple of things I should have asked.
First, did you make the reed yourself, or is it a reed from your pipemaker?
Second, what type of bridle does the reed have? Copper band or twisted wire?
If it is a reed from your pipemaker it is probably better not to fiddle with the bridle to much especially if this your only reed. I hope that’s not the case! PJ’s advice to wait and see if it is a humidity problem would probably be best in this situation.
If you made the reed and you construted a copper band bridle, I was trying to suggest making a few more copper bridles of different thickness. Then the trick is to play around with how snuggly these bridles gird the reedhead, or not as the case may be. In my own experience of making bridles for my own reeds I have found bridles that are too snug (grip the reedheed to uniformly all the way round) seem to inhibit the reeds performace. I have no science to back this up, or steps to follow. Its more about experimenting with the way the bridle grips the reed.
I have 3 reeds from the maker, Richard Patkós. One has an adjustable bridle while the other two are fixed. They all play sharp. In the second octave. Might this be because the reeds were made in Hungary and a different climate than wa state?
Not experienced enough to help here… But what is a fixed bridle? I have not heard of that before?
My fixed reeds have wire wrapped just above the binding. This bridle is stationary. All you can do is squeeze the sides or the flat part.
Update: I used the PhilD’s straw method and was able to lower the second octave with much more stability than the wire method. I was reading in a reed makers guide about the crow. I adjusted my bridle until I could achieve both the g sharp and f sharp tones as it said to. I didn’t realize what a difference the crow makes! My chanter is fun to play again 
Excellent. Well done.
That’s great news. Its very satisfying when you have tamed a wild reed, and can then get on with the pleasure of playing!
I hope that this conversation helps a lot of people out.