Hi folks,
messed around with my reed yesterday to get the pipes tuned to the session - now everything’s in tune, but my 2nd octave E sounds…weird. Like a mixture of an hardE and an overblown E … and sometimes the E sounds like it should. I made a small sound file to underline that: MP3 file, 440 KB (didn’t pay attention to intonation, just played something around some E’s and e’s). I think you should clearly be able to hear what I mean…
Any hints how to get that reed working again?
Thanks in advance & greetings,
G.
PS: If a photo of the reed helps, I can add one. Just drop me a line.
Try a touch of tape over the bottom portion of the D# hole. What make of chanter do you play? Gallaghers are sometimes prone to that second octave E howl. The tape thing seems to do the trick most often.
Make a roll of card stock about 3/4" x 1 3/4" and shove it up the chanter between the D# and E holes. The top cover of a pack of Gauloises or Del Rey cigarette papers works well.
while we are on the subject of reed probs, my preshaw chanter is playing well until i hit an A in the first octave then comes the screech any ideas guys
Check your fingers, are they sealing the holes entirely? Then I would check to see if the lips are too closed. Check to see if the bottom of the chanter is properly sealed on your thigh (you know what I mean, djm!). Then I would down a bottle of booze… ummmm… that last part is purely optional.
Ghost *d is a second octave thingy, same as you have there, but with the back thumb off the chater. It is usually approached by sliding from down e (lowering the ‘e’ finger and sliding the back thumb of the hole) , or up from d (sliding the lower hand pinky off its’ hole while replacing the back d thumb to its’ hole).
If the E’s are now wonky, try moving the tape down a little so it isn’t covering the hole quite so much. A mm here or there can make all the difference.
Growly second octave E and/or raspy ghost D can be very sensitive to small changes in the reed. Some chanters (as you noted) just seem to be prone to it; original Rowsomes are known to do this too , sometimes. You may just have to experiment with a couple of different reeds. A reed change seems to have triggered it, so it seems likely that another as-yet-undiscovered reed change will fix it. But make sure you have some spares!
AFAIK there’s no “works every time” reed fix for this, there seems to be some little no-fly-zone in the reed characteristics that leads to instability in the harmonics of the E; the goal seems to be to find the way out of that zone that does the least harm (and maybe helps) your tuning.
Did you open the reed, or close it, to trigger this? (I am guessing it started when you made the reed more open.). You may need to close it down again partway and find some other way to flatten the reed, if so (for instance, moving it out in the reed seat, or sanding/scraping very slightly). As the latter adjustment is not reversible, you need to have a spare reed and be prepared for heartache if you opt for that one, perhaps better to get an experienced reedmaker to have a go instead.
