CP Stainless Steel Staples by Howard Music Ltd

[chanterdan]

The reed i recieved,is not a keeper.Breaking back D,scrape sanded too thin.May send it back,or make new head for the staple.

[nemethmik]

May send it back

Is this possible according to the return policy of Howard Music?

[madfortrad]

Yes i believe it can be

As far as i recall Brian will replace or refund any defective reed. Provided of course that the customer has not altered the reed by scraping cutting or removing or replacing anything.

Your best to phone and just speak with Brian and things will be cleared up in a matter of moments.

[chanterdan]

No worries, changed out the Bridle.She is singing now!Its all good.

[Mogens Hundevad]

The reed i recieved,is not a keeper.Breaking back D,scrape sanded too thin.May send it back,or make new head for the staple.

I have had no problems with my new reed. i sings fine and are in tune. I see no excuce not to try it - it worked for mee.

[maki]

Sorry for the n00b question-
Any one use these in a Daye chanter?

[PadraigMI]

No worries, changed out the Bridle.She is singing now!Its all good.

Hey Chanter Dan,
Is this a Galloway chanter singing, all good?
Also, since February and the change of seasons... Is it still working to your satisfaction?
Best,
Patrick

[ambaiste]

Stainless Steel Staple Reed ---Update.

It has been quite a while since this topic was first posted and there have been some new technical developments and some topic questions asked have been left unanswered.

First let me thank all the contributors to the topic.

Progress

Having a staple that is both of a good design and can be repeatedly manufactured to close tolerances has been great. It has enabled me to make changes to the cane geometry and know that the staple has been a consistent feature of any of the reeds made. This means that any changes in performance must be due to cane quality or geometry. I have made tooling so that the cane shape (gouging, profile and scrape can accurately be reproduced). This has resulted in improved tuning and tone control when used in both my own and other makes of chanter.

The surprising thing has been that in the number of different makes of chanter that were in the past difficult to reed became easy.


In answer to questions posed on this forum see below.

Q. Why are UP reeds so expensive?

A.

1. They take a long time to make.

2. Cane takes 2 years to season.

3. It is a very small market compared to other reed instruments and a good reed can last many years.

4. To make a consistent reed special equipment is needed. This is expensive and is non standard (you can't use bassoon reed-making tools for example).

5. Evidence driven research is expensive. You have to use the above equipment to be able to produce consistent reeds. Then you can change one variable at a time. Make several reeds. Check results. Change another variable and repeat the process. Thus a body of knowledge is slowly acquired. A month of R & D equates to a lot of cash.


The main reason for producing a better reed was to improve the Howard chanter. The "spin off" is that this reed is also available for other makes of chanter.
Q. A technical one, can the second 8ve be tuned by moving the head in relation to the staple.

A. It is one of the easiest ways to affect the second octave and of course it is reversible. Be careful though as always it has secondary effects and can change other things. The trick is to change the second octave while improving other things at the same time.






We have been asked some questions off line as well as the ones above. We would like to share the answers here.

Q. Will the staples on be available for purchase?

A. As Pat Sky said in an earlier post “that half the work undertaken was in making the staple” it figures that half the cost of a reed (excluding materials) is in the staple. To develop the tooling to produce staples from solid stainless bar is expensive. To manufacture a sufficient quantity of staples to reduce the “price per item” means making a large number of staples, this involves a big cash outlay. The price that we would have to ask for a finished staple would probably put people off purchasing them.

Now that the R&D is completed on the staple and the cane the time involved in making each reed has been reduced.

Q. Will you be producing regulator reeds with a stainless steel staple?

A Yes these are in the development stage and prototypes are working well in the various makes of pipes in which they have been tried. At the moment special tooling is being made so as to gain consistency of production. We hope to have "plug and play" baritone and tenor reeds for sale in early 2013. (For bass regulator reed try our D chanter reed).



Once again thanks to all the people who have shown an interest in our reeds.

Brian Howard
Howard Music
www.howardmusic.co.uk

shop@howardmusic.co.uk

[Brazenkane]

Brian,

I'm really interested in knowing how all this is done.

Are you able to explain how you make and/or how the machine makes the staple. How did you come to the present machining method? Is the cane part still done the "old fashioned way," e.g. by hand?

Much thanks for your post!

[fiddlerwill]

could you also tell us if you will be producing reeds/staples for narrowbore chanters? cheers

[Tilori]

I am also interested in how long it takes you to make a reed, because you mentioned that it takes a long time. After you do the scrape with the machines you have developed, does your reed need some more manual attention or does it work straight away?
Your method seems to be really interesting, I have been watching some reedmaking videos in the last time and it seems nobody uses special machines. It would be nice to know more about different, more automatised, methods.

[ambaiste]

Howard Music Limited is a company and I am sure you will understand that, after a large investment in time and money, some of the answers I can give will be limited by commercial considerations. Please make allowances for the fact that I can’t give as full an answer as you might expect.
Q. Are you able to explain how you make and/or how the machine makes the staple?
A. It is made in a special computer controlled machine in the same way a chanter would be produced only using solid stainless steel bar.
Q. How did you come to the present machining method?
A. My training and qualifications are in production engineering and consequently I have known how to match accuracy and production quantities etc. to the optimum manufacturing methods. The big difference these days is that in the past tool paths were controlled by solid metal cams, today the tooling is controlled by a computer. This means that much smaller quantities can be produced economically.
Q. Is the cane part still done the "old fashioned way," e.g. by hand?
A. Years ago I restored some late nineteenth century reed-making equipment and took the opportunity of copying the principles with some modern improvements. This allows for changing the cane geometry by small known amounts leading to the evolution of the present cane shape. This method produces a tied reed that is “just crowing” hand scraping producing the variations required in finished reeds.
Q. Could you also tell us if you will be producing reeds/staples for narrow-bore chanters?
A. Maybe. There may be more variations in flat pitched chanters than in concert pitch. For Instance C# chanters seem to be in 2 varieties, one being like a flat D, one being like a sharp C. Also sales might not justify the large development costs.
Q. I am also interested in how long it takes you to make a reed, because you mentioned that it takes a long time. After you do the scrape with the machines you have developed, does your reed need some more manual attention or does it work straight away?
Your method seems to be really interesting, I have been watching some reedmaking videos in the last time and it seems nobody uses special machines. It would be nice to know more about different, more automatised, methods.
A. I think timings come in the commercial sensitivity category.
For the scrape question see the answer above.
For the question on more automatic methods see above.
For videos on reed-making have a look at non UP videos.

Thanks once again for the interest.
Brian Howard
www.howardmusic.co.uk
shop@howardmusic.co.uk

[Brazenkane]

Would you ever make a vid of your procedure, or would that breach areas of confidentiality?

[KevinCorkery]

I think we should respect Brians investment and order his reeds/staples instead of trying to copy his procedure which probably wouldn't turn out as well anyhow.

[Lars Larry Mór Mott]

I think we should respect Brians investment and order his reeds/staples instead of trying to copy his procedure which probably wouldn't turn out as well anyhow.

+1, well said.
Of course i too am interested, and would love to see, but again, swap places with Brian and rethink