Hi,
Just recieved a practice set and am working on setting the reed and going through the scale. I am also in a dryer climate than the maker. My Low D takes next to no pressure and to much makes it waver. Volume seems ok, and the I loose the second octave up around high C. Any tips would be appreciated.
Gene
Gene…
Get the tea kettle on in dry climates during the winter!
A wavering low D can mean several things but I cured mine, thanks to a suggestion on this board, by rushing the throat area of the bore. For some reason, if the bore is too large between thumb note and where the reed sets, it causes an irregularity in the low D (for some reeds).
For a rush, I used a single 2" (two inches long) strand of telephone wire (one of the 4 wires) with the plastic sleeve still on. Take and wind it back and forth until this “S” shape stays wedged in the throat just under the reed. This seems to break up the impedance and also mellows down the volume just right.
As for losing the upper octave around the high C…I assume you mean the high end of the upper octave. Correct me if I am wrong. It’s normal the lose the upper octave around the upper high C unless you know the fingering to get you into the 3rd octave. I can’t belive you’d consider that a problem If you are just learning. Good Luck!!
Lorenzo, did the rush affect (upper octave) tuning?
Tony…no, the upper octave is the same, right on all the way, even playing slow airs with drones on (best test), although it seems to have corrected the 3rd octave D -ie, lowered it just slightly (all holes covered except the RH middle finger–left index finger open gives more volume).
There’s one jig esp. that climbs right up the scale and ends on that 3rd D note, at the end of each pharse. I don’t know it’s name but its a cool jig.
The wire fell out the other day for the first time in 3 months so I compared w & w/o before reinserting the wire more securely.
Lorenzo,
Did you make a small coil then with the wire? I’m not sure I follow how you got it to stay. I’ve also hear that taking a piece of string, and super gluing it’s tip just inside the bottom of the staple can help with this issue too…perhaps also help a weak hard D. thoughts?
Bri~
Gene,
The fact that the D takes little pressure to sound indicates reed problem. Too closed or scraped too thin I would venture. Try opening it up a little. If there is no Hard D try a small rush/roll of card/paper clip in the bell.
Lorenzo,
Try a small roll of card in the neck to constrict the bore rather than wire. It should stay in place better.
Cheers
Alan
Thanks for all the input. I opened up the eye of the reed a little and it seems to have helped.
Gene
Brian…
I took a single strand of thin telephone wire (the copper measures .o22, but with plastic sleeve left on it measures about .038) that was about 2 inches long and wound the wire back and forth into an “S” shape, or the shape of a snake so that the 2" shortens up to maybe 1 and 1/2" long. This curves the wire into a shape just a bit wider than the bore so that it wedges itself (like spring-loaded) against the wall of the bore. The wire is in the middle of the air stream this way, not against the sides. Push it down the throat with a friction fit.
Allen…
When I first got my vintage set of pipes back…a few months ago (after a 10 year break) I tried out several of my old reeds (which I had kept) and the upper octave was very low, weak, and some upper notes wouldn’t even produce much of a tone. I was kind of puzzled for about 15 minutes until I looked up into the bore and saw this paper that apparently the previous owner had lined the same area of the bore with (perhaps too much paper). I didn’t know at the time what was being accomplished so I immediately dislodged it and the upper octave all came true and worked perfect, BUT–I had this new problem (which I never had 10 years previous) the low D wavered, gurggled, broke, or what ever you want to call it.
It had exactly the same characteristics of Genes discription - opening up the reed helped, rushing the bell didn’t, but the wire in the throat cured it and also toned down the volume. Card paper or paper clips may work in the same way, but interfering with the middle of the air stream with a curved wire, as opposed to a straight string or clip works well. The amount of paper needed to wrap around and stay in the bore would be the equivilant of maybe 10-20 wires…way too much to do the trick.
For those new to the frustrations of piping idiosyncrasies, whatever method is used, the principle seems to be to reduce air volume equvilant to a narrower bore in the throat area above the thumb hole.
[ This Message was edited by: Lorenzo on 2002-10-23 10:49 ]
[ This Message was edited by: Lorenzo on 2002-10-23 11:44 ]
I think some people refer to this Bottom D problem as an
“autocran”
…its easier to type, I suppose!!
Boyd