Chiff and Fipple Forums

Thanks Geoff! That's a very helpful discription. I shall try the trick with the plate glass...and massaging the blades. An oboe reed maker gave me a tiny tool that slips between the lips. After playing, and after the reed dries, he inserted it, squeezed the lips shut tight over it, then moved it in ...

My Spruce slips were longer...I cut them in half before gouging and sanding. Great tip there on wetting and sanding again. I know at least one member here that does something similar...and he's had great success. One in particular plays like no other in my Hunter B chanter--almost easier in the uppe...

Like everything else, it all depends. I don't think it's very simple to know how to cure, season, or dry out the kind of hardwood used with uilleann pipes. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand the method varies from species to species. IOW, the way boxwood is cut and cured would be diff...

Thanks Don for that last link. I found that very interesting! Thanks to Ben and David as well for the detailed information. From my experience, I agree with everything Ben said. The only thing he didn't mention was what type of spruce he'd been experimenting with. If, like someone has mentioned in t...

Thanks for the links, Don. The size pipe I finally settled on was 2 3/8" dia. This was for a B chanter. Cane and spruce dimensions seem nearly the same. Yes, the tails are carved into a bottle neck shape. Englemann spruce is softer than cane so you have to be very careful when sanding or you ca...

Yes, quarter sawn. Mine's about the same as Michael's...8 growth rings within a 11mm wide reed head. The mountains around here are full of Englemann Spruce, so hope to find splinters from wind-blown trees this summer and figure out just what density and flexibility it takes to get a good sounding re...

Thanks for the link, donpiper...and the suggestions as well. It probably all depends on the kind of spruce used...density and flexibility likely varies a lot...even within one sample. I tried Sitka first, and it seemed way too hard, but it could be I never scraped it thin enough (overall) even thoug...

Lotza buzz goin 'round about Spruce reeds lately. Can't find any Spruce videos or sound clips, so yesterday thought I'd try making one. Sounds kinda woody to me, but it's still brand new. It plays nice and easy, perhaps a little stiffer than cane, but this spruce is the softest I can find. Some here...

Brian Howard posted this on another forum: I have just heard of the death of Peter Hunter, who passed away on Tuesday 20 January. Peter was a well known uilleann pipemaker from North Yorkshire. A friend, Chris Wilkes, informed me today saying "He passed on Tuesday. There were four of us up on M...

You've probably heard this before, but it bears repeating. There's another thing to consider--bore design, tonehole size, and chimney height. I have 4 different Coyne copies of B chanters--and they're all different dimensions. Only one is an exact Coyne copy, the rest have been modified by maker to ...

Thanks a lot for your detailed description. There is an elder bush growing in front of my window, so I just have to step out of the door to collect some branches. Good luck! It's hard to find straight dead branches, but don't be afraid of curved ones. Cut the tongue on the concave side...as counter...

OK, so I did some urban foraging and found some switchgrass. It was being grown as an ornamental accent grass at a local Starbuck's tm , so I filched a couple of stalks that were about seven feet tall. It could be Cloud Nine since it didn't show any red or other colors. Last night the first few nod...

Thanks for the name...learnthegrip! You mentioned, that you have a special way of scraping and cutting the tongue (the cut looks really nice and straight). Could you explain how you are making those reeds? Slicing the edges of the tongue is about the most critical part of the operation. I can't tell...

Here's the Ryegrass buzz, played in the Hunter B set. I can't remember the name of this tune...maybe someone can?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiJraqN ... _VPYLJx1vA

Wild Ryegrass is proving to be one of my favorites! Ran them in my Hunter B set for quite a while this morning, and all I can say is I'm very impressed.