The 1967 Comhaltas LP up online (referenced here) also contains a track from yer man Liam. I downloaded to my new iPod the other day, and was blown away at how unlike Liam O’Flynn he sounded in 67. He’s playing hell-for-leather and honking the regs like there’s no tomorrow. It doesn’t sound bad or anything, but in my ears his later work needs descriptors like “taste” and “restraint” or “the perfect ornament at exactly the right moment”. Not so this one; this set sounds like he’s showing off all the buttons on his pipes. At once.
Over the years one of the things I noticed was the instability of reeds with regard to temperature. How many times have you opened your pipes case to find that the reed was so open that the D pipes were almost down to the key of C#, or the other problem of being too closed and high in pitch.
I believe that I have the problem to the use of copper or brass for the bridle. One should remember that many household thermostats use a strip of brass as a regulator because of its sensitivity to temperature; expanding with heat and contracting with cold. Brass is simply a mixture of tin and copper so using a brass or copper strip is the equivalent of putting a thermostat on your reed.
The solution I have found is to use steel. Go to a local heating/air conditioning shop and ask for a handful of scrap sheet galvanized metal used for duct work. I use the 24-26 gauge but it comes in different thicknesses. Don’t get the really thin stuff it will not work. Most shop will say help yourself and charge nothing.
Make the bridle just like you have always done. Once you have installed a steel bridle you’ll never go back to copper or brass. Steel is less “springy” and holds its shape and the reed is more stable. It is also stronger and makes for more accurate tuning.
