The question was posed in another thread as to how to make reeds play with minimal pressure, and where to scrape a reed in order to make it easier to sound/play?
Over to you Mr Wooff… And any one else who’d like to comment.
Haha, I just posted the same question. Maybe the threads can be combined.
Here’s a start–and it’s been a long time since I messed (or mess up) with reeds either. A reed with good decent action, no leaks, no cracks, and in tune, is a terrific balance of everything. Sliding the bridle down (lessening the tension) is a good start–and it doesn’t take much to make a huge difference–I’m talking about something almost imperceptible with many well-made reeds. Scraping the entire V area of the reed can flatten the pitch too, so beware about scraping too much or turning the V into a U. Even though the reed may be playing easier, bad things can happen everywhere–like the A and Ds, inserting the staple further or less into the seat, etc. Try humidifying the room first too–you’ll be surprised how much easier a hard reed works.
With the above, also consider ways in which the aperture of the lips can be brought down before the bridle is applied. Forcing the aperture down with the bridle can help, but sometimes doing so can ruin a reed. Such methods are discussed in Benedict Koehler’s videos on the NPU source website; he throws out a few ideas that you can try.
Also coupled with Lorenzo’s comment on humidity, letting the reed settle for a week with no adjustments is very beneficial.
First caveat; make very sure that it is not your pipes that are leaking which makes you feel your reed(s) are too strong.
Second caveat; don’t experiment with your best chanter reed .
Thirdly.. little bit, little bit…
My basic method of ‘head’ scraping can be found on the NPU Video, I’m sorry it is not wonderfully clear but the thing was done on the cheap . So my heads are thinnest at the top corners and the crossection of the blades, when looking at the open ends, is like a very fine cresent moon, thicker in the middle and thinest at the edges.
As has already been said a very light scraping of the sides of the V can lighten the amount of effort needed to play. I use a scalpel blade for this… don’t be mean though, either use a new fresh blade or become adept at sharpening things.
So I use the very tip of my curved (no.22) blade to take a very light 2 millimetre wide scraping , from the collar to the tips, right up against the line of the cane bark. Sometimes from only half way along the length. Sometimes from a point about two thirds of the way from the Bridle to the tips I make an angular scrape from just each side of the centre line and on out to the top corners. These corners are the thinnest part of my blades.
I use a strong Light source ( no this is not the cooking course! Oh, yes, sorry) … hold up the reed to the light and see the shadows showing through the blades which will help you determine if there is a thick bit somewhere that might be causing a problem. When my reeds are ‘ready’ it is possible to see a Y shaped darker tracing when using the Light source which shows a thicker spine up the centre and some notable change in thickness above the 2/3rds point, mentioned above.
Do not allow the centre of the scrape to be too thin and weak, as this will cause the closing blades to touch in the centre first… this results in a dull sounding reed because the vibrations stop at their point of direction reversal without there being a complete seal of the air flowing through the reed. This way there would be no clear- crisp start and stop of each vibration cycle.
At this point, and often during the process of finnishing a Reed, I use a flat hard surface, a piece of Plate Glass or something very smooth, on this I rub the blades of the reed with good finger pressure to close the the two blades against each other and ‘bed-in’ the inner surfaces of the tips to each other. This helps produce a better seal when the blades close and the result is a nice clean, crisp vibration start and finish.
I use my fingers to feel any high spots on the blades where I don’t want them to be, very delicately holding the reed between thumb and finger. I also spend a good deal of time drawing air through the reed, using my mouth, and listening to the sounds. The general musical note produced in this way should not be lower than , but about the same as the A note of the chanter for which the reed is destined. This is my rule-of-thumb for Flat Set chanters… concert pitch?
I listen for other noises when sucking on my reed… drawing air using my cheek muscles , like sucking on a drinking straw, or breathing in gently , letting the reed use all my air passages to vibrate with. The variety of sounds tell me a lot about how the reed will ,hopefully, perform in a chanter. If during this process of searching for different sounds I get a very high pitched squeek, I know that the reed is tooo tight, somewhere.. this squeel will be repeated in the chanter when one makes an unclean finger movement ( not opening a hole quickly enough etc.)
When sucking on a reed it is very easy to determine just how much pressure and air usage the thing will need, too little or too much .
So, as you take very carefull scrapings to loosen the hinging of the blades, being very mindfull of having two blades that are balanced and equal… you can then gradually close the blades by the bridle pressure if needs be.
Maybe insert another caveat here: realise a new reed won’t be very light to play from the outset. From experience I know Geoff’s reeds take a while to come fully into their own (or maybe I just take ages to get used to a new reed, who knows) and play in fully. That said, my first one lasted twenty-one years without problems (until I changed to an up-to-date design C chanter).
Yes that is true. A new reed will get lighter to play after about 3-12 months , depending on how many hours you play , and that ‘getting lighter’ has to be allowed for when making a new reed… don’t strape them down to a light pressure too soon.
If, however you have a well played in reed but it is still too tough to blow, then , after checking that your energy is not going into a leak or through the drone reeds, try a little lightening scrape.
Above I talked about reeds that make a high pitched squeak when suck tested.. there are various reasons for this but those that are caused by an imbalance of Blades or to thick a spot somewhere.. I search and take tiny scrapes untill that squeak JUST stops… then if all the other gurgles and notes sound good to me and the ‘Reed Head Speed’ (pitch) is correct… it should work.
So, when you have a reed that is playing just perfectly for you ( I know I know, fat chance) that is the moment to take it out and gently suck at the staple using different mouth shapes, throat closed and open, and listen to the sounds it makes, get the feel of how the reed takes the air, the definate snaping shut of the blades at the begining of each start and the sounds of those tiny rattle-ly noises… remember how it all is… for next time.
Perhaps if you live up near the Arctic circle and have a reed of Maple ,or some such stuff, then none of my comments might apply.
Around about the F# - G mark on concert pitch seems to be the point at which the reed will play well.
Thanks, this is really helpful.
That’s fantastic info Geoff. I’d read about scraping the V before but never in such detail, or it explained quite so well what it was supposed so achived. It also makes me understand why some of my own reeds are more successful than others.
THEY do say (whoever they are) that good reeds make themselves… well it does happen now and then that a really lovely reed comes out of a batch of possible/hopefulls.. and some people just wait for that to happen and thus waste a load of cane making all the near misses.
I prefer to try to up the odds by taking great care of the finnishing of my heads.. spending several days just bringing a batch gradually to ‘THE’ point. Much more success will come with knowledge of what went wrong last time.
I also spend a good deal of time drawing air through the reed, using my mouth, and listening to the sounds
Somehow ‘Squeek’ Wooff just doesn’t have the same ring as ‘Squeek’ O’Mealy 
Bob
And I am so happy to see someone else wearing two sets of glasses. My reedmaking’s on the right track there, at least! 
Okay, back to our originally scheduled topic. Which is AWESOME, of course.
Yup, a big nose had to come in handy some day !! Now I need three pairs and the two that are in this picture, dating from 1998 (?) are still in service.. in absolutely deplorable condition too!
A poverty of pipers… ( the poverty of pipemakers is more likely).
I am just a very beginner at reedmaking. I have tried to “feel” the thickness variation but I think that must come with experience. At 63 I use progressive lens glasses but they are not enough to accurately judge thickness. I tried a clip on loupe but it was cumbersome and kept falling off. Then I found this on amazon:
Its comfortable, has built in LED’s, An extra flip down lens and a little swing in loupe. Its easy to flip it up when you dont want it, I can wear by glasses with it, and its Cheap ($9).
“Poverty of pipemakers” is right! I don’t know how you all do it; I honestly don’t.
For what it’s worth I recently had a pair of those fancy lineless bifocals made, and they don’t hold a candle to the “six-eyes (or in your case, eight?)” version. Even got my eyes re-checked and the specs are still useless at any distance, so I was reminded once again that sometimes “what works” might also be what works best. I’m happy to send them along if you want to use them for a mildly stylish extra layer of safety goggles, but don’t expect much else from them!
Ah well, as someone said recently, “We should count ourselves lucky we get to age.” I’m going to keep telling myself that.
And once again, a thousand thanks for the invaluable advice and insight you’re sharing here. This is such a help.
Oooh, that’s cool! I’ve been using a knitting magnifier on a string and one of those “light caps” – a baseball hat with LEDs in the brim (very handy when you live on a farm). This looks much more efficient. And perhaps just a little less “crazy cat lady” than answering the door wearing two pairs of glasses, a glowing baseball cap, and a knitting magnifier sticking out from your sternum.
thanks, Bob!
Hmm,
looks like a usefull thing Bob. I have varifocal glasses too… my drinking glasses I call them.. ok for shopping and driving the car but for making reeds.. absolutely useless!
I’m 63 as well and to think I used to make reeds with out any artificial aids…
Poverty struck pipemakers; I imagine that many of them have spouses with good jobs to support them… Hmmmm… that reminds me I must have a chat to herself about that.
As my dear departed mum used to say: “getting old is hell, but it beats the alternative”. 