Hello,
I am looking for some used ezee-drone reeds (I think they only make them in D) for my uilleann pipes. If you have some that are in good shape, and that you’d like to sell, please send me a PM. Thanks.
I might suggest composite reeds by an UP reed maker. I find the Ezee drone reeds hard to fit some tenor sockets and the tone to be rather bland, not to mention their expense. Cane reeds aree best for tone but some find their enviroment to have too large of temp/humidity swings to be using cane reeds. There are several options of composite reeds which I have seen which are less expensive, fit better and sound better than the Ezee drone reeds. A set of good cane reeds can be had for $30.00 US and often have never been tried, due to myths about their lack of stability etc.
Martin Preshaw does composite drone reeds made out of boxwood and cane for about £20. They are incredibly stable and easy to fit - http://www.martinpreshaw.com
Thanks Podge. I am not seeing the drone reeds advertised on Martin’s website, but maybe I am not looking in the correct spot or seeing it.
I like to think of myself as having a discerning ear, and I have never had the privilege of doing a side-by-side comparison of drone reed sounds. For average or below average pipers like myself, I am thinking that my overall sound is going to be most influenced by drone pitch stability, overall intonation of the pipes, and my ability to control the chanter in terms of timing, and maybe hardest of all for me, playing with some musicality/expression by adding some appropriate ornamentation. With that being said, in the context of trying to keep multiple sets going, or what I am doing now, which is experimenting with various drone combinations to try to get some G drones set up, having some basic, reliable drone reeds of various sizes can come in really handy. I appreciate the feedback about various options out there, and I will certainly consider those in my pursuit of my current project: G drones using various drones I have available to me (borderpipe drones in A). In regards to ezee-drone reeds in particular, I have found that the company is good at responding to my questions about reed dimensions, sending me reeds in a timely manner, etc. I have found that their tenor reed can be a bit large in diameter to fit in some tenor (common) stocks, but they do fit and work well in some maker’s tenor (common) stocks. Thanks again for the guidance and feedback.
Martin doesn’t mention them on his website but they are available. He will make them according to dimensions you send him. If you have standard cane reeds that you know work, measure the overall length, tongue length and diameter and he will make composite versions for you. The pitch remains stable under pressure and they take less air than standard cane reeds. The body of them can also be re-used if necessary.
Hi Scott. I just had a chance to play David Daye’s composite drone reeds and they are very nice. With a little R&D you could probably make some up yourself… it’s not that difficult, but they don’t cost that much to buy direct from David. You might take some measurements to make sure they will fit your seats or can be modified to do so.
No direct experience with Martin’s, but I hear very good things about them from several sources. Martin does not advertise them. You would have to ask directly (martin@martinpreshaw.com).
I’ve been playing the Ezeedrones for about a year. They are very stable (at least in New Mexico), but as others say, are lacking in terms of timbre in comparison to cane. Now I’m back to cane for the bass drone, but retain the EzeeDrones for baritone and tenor. I had to do some modification to get them to fit my drone seats-- sandpaper worked quite well to get the right diameter and taper, though YMMV. I ordred them direct from the maker and was happy. Mainly what I can say is they are not optimal, but solve some problems nicely. Andrew may have a set he is not using. You might ask him.
I play composite drone reeds that I make myself.
I use a brass body with Arundo Donax tongues. Length/diameter measurements I got from Tim Britton’s “My Method” with further info from David Quinn’s “The Piper’s Despair”. David recommends that one end be plugged with solder or a flat piece of brass soldered to it with the excess filed away, and 2/3 of the diameter, tapering to 0" at 3/4 of the length of the tube be filed away to make the lay. I finish by polishing with 1,000 grit wet/dry sandpaper.
For my bridle, I use o-rings that I found in the local hardware shop.
I use Spanish cane and use a thickness of 0.040", 0.030" and 0.020" for the tongues, polished to it’s final thickness with 1,000 grit wet/dry sandpaper.
I can quickly turn out several blades and have 2 sets of working reeds (most of the time) and with two sets of bodies, tuned and ready to go, if something gang aglay with one or more drone reeds..
Amazingly, only minor tweaking is needed to play either Concert pitch or C. I did put a tuning slide on the bass drone reed to try and shorten the drone length a bit as it can be awkward to play my C set in tight places. It helped with stability more than changing the drone length, though.
These seem to work and behave well with bag pressure/humidity swings. It is quite a bit of work to make the reed bodies, but once you have a couple made, they should last the life of the set.
Seconded.
I’d like to try and make these brass reeds myself. How do you cut the lay so that it’s nice and flat? I’ve got a router. That doesn’t seem too safe. Filing sounds a little tricky.
I used an inexpensive Harbor Freight (Chinese) belt/ disk sander. Just lay the tube flat on the belt or disk with a low grit sanding belt or disk (120) that takes off a lot of material quickly. A 8" 1720 RPM grinder would work too, though the brass will clog up the wheel and ruin it for anything but brass. The grinder approach results it a little cupping that you have to file or sand flat.
I used a file clamped in a vice. I found a combination of some brass rods/tubes that fit into the open end of the reed body that I temporarily soldered in and used as a handle while filing and polishing the lay. I used elbow grease, mainly, as I only needed to make 6 bodies.
Fancypiper,
Fancy sharing final body diameters/lengths? Im just starting to play with artificials and have a bass drone which is plating well but in c#. Cant get it to d, am going to try shortening the body next.
Bob
Outside Diameter X Length brass tubing
Tenor - 3/16" X 1 1/2"
Baritone - 7/32" X 2 1/4"
Bass - 1/4" X 4"
Thanks for the great info, guys!!!
There’s info on making brass/cane drone reeds on Ray Sloan’s site - no sizes though
Thanks for the info.
Bob
Phil, on your composite reed bodies, do you use the inserted/soldered rod strictly as a handle, or do you insert it all the way into the tube so that it gets filed down along with the lay, perhaps to prevent the walls of the tube from getting squashed? Seems like the latter would make for harder filing (besides, any wall-squashing could be corrected by pushing the rod all the way through after filing, and using it as a mandrel, right?).
Also, how do you close the end? I began making one of these yesterday, but had trouble with Quinn’s suggested (but not preferred) method of cutting the end, folding it up, and soldering it.
I think I didn’t have it closed tightly enough to get good capillary action. Maybe soldering in a plug made of sawed-off rod is easier? Note that I’m using 96% tin / 4% silver solder, with borax paste for flux – does that sound correct?
Thanks,
Mick
I had to push it a bit past where the lay would be files to get enough leverage on the file so that the handle didn’t pop out.
I used a piece of flat brass and soldered on the end, then I filed the excess off.
I used a very short piece of rod to plug my tenor drone as that was the only rod I had that would fit the inside of the tube. I used the plain old electrical solder, the tin/lead combo with the flux inside the solder.
Thanks for the clarification! 
As luck would have it, my neighborhood hardware store has brass rod in 5/32" and 3/16" diameters, which fit inside 3/16" (tenor) and 7/32" (baritone) tubing, respectively. I found a “DIY knife construction” website selling 7/32" brass rod, which should fit inside 1/4" (bass) tubing. So, now I can try making both flat-covered and plug-filled ends.
All of which makes good practice at soldering, at which I’ve always wanted to achieve competence…
Cheers,
Mick