Tuner warning

[patsky]

I just spent two days trying to fit a reed to my C chanter, pulling my hair out, only to discover that the batteries were low in my tuner. The tuner said that my C chanter was approaching B. I put a tuning fork on my tuner and discovered the problem , I replaced the batteries and everything fell into place. Moral-- if you use a tuner keep check on the batteries and calibrate it to 440.

Pat

[geoff wooff]

A good tip Pat !

I had one customer asking why his chanter had suddenly changed pitch only to find , on closer examination, that he had jogged the pitch setting on his tuner a few Hertz . On his particular model it is only too easy to do.

Geoff.

[Jarlath.I]

Everyone should be tuning to the pipes anyway!

[geoff wooff]

Everyone should be tuning to the pipes anyway!

Absolutely Jarlath !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trying to play two fixed pitch instruments together is asking for trouble when one of them has a tendancy to wander up and down in pitch with temperature fluctuations , not to mention humidity!

Mind you ,some pipers do really try to keep their pipes in tune with 'the session' whilst others just play on regardless with no apparent concept of being in tune .

How on earth those Scots military bands manage to keep the pipers and the brass cum woodwinds in a pitch I'm sure I don't know... considring that some of the Highland Pipe bands appear to get ever sharper in pitch these days.

[daveboling]

How on earth those Scots military bands manage to keep the pipers and the brass cum woodwinds in a pitch I'm sure I don't know... considring that some of the Highland Pipe bands appear to get ever sharper in pitch these days.

The pipe majors use the vise-grip pliers' adjustment screw to ratchet up the pitch from where it is attached under the kilt...

[PCL]

There is an awful tyranny about A 440. I once had a concertina player pompously tell me I was a bit flat of concert pitch. It turned out he was at A 443. I gave up playing concert pitch pipes in sessions when I had four fiddlers inform me that I was sharp of them. They must have glued their tuning pegs. These days I play flute or whistle in sessions.

[Mr.Gumby]

There was one time years ago here in town, we were playing nicely (I was playing the whistle) tuned to the concertina in our company when a bouzouki player from Dublin came in, tuned to his tuner without even giving us a look and went at it full blast for a whole set of tunes. Then looked, first at his tuner and then at us, and informed us: 'yez are all flat'. What can you say? He didn't re-tune.

[geoff wooff]

That's a bit like the time Mikie Smith and three fiddlers were having a few nice tunes in C#(- 25 to 30 cents) during Willie Week one year, when in comes a concertina player quickly takes a chair and proceeds to join in... she did not even notice they were playing more than a semitone flatter than the concertina...

[rorybbellows]

So does that mean that if you don't have perfect or relative pitch, you shouldn't be playing music.

RORY

[Mr.Gumby]

Jackie Daly usually comes up with the story of the two Connemara brothers, a boxplayer and a piper. The pipes were nearly in e flat while the accordion was not. They always kept playing together. When asked about the why and how the answer was 'Sure, we know. But what can we do?'

[MattMads]

I've managed to use several tuner apps on my iPhone for guitars, banjos and my pipes. I have three reeds and none of them play the scale in tune. One is sharp here and the other may be sharp somewhere else on the scale. As I am a solo player, no one plays with me in the home and I rarely play in secessions, i have not made much effort to try and tune my pipes. This topic has me thinking about keeping a journal on where my reeds are playing on any given day. A good log of where they are may provide some insight. My c nat. Tends to bee flat on one reed. One of these days I hope to have the knowledge of what to do to correct these issues. By knowledge I mean knowing how to trim, scrape and work on finished reeds. Maybe even make a few reeds to boot.

[ennischanter]

Anyone had any luck with those "Peterson" strobe tuners?

[geoff wooff]

Anyone had any luck with those "Peterson" strobe tuners?

I have currently 8( or perhaps 9) 'tuners' including a Peterson VSAM and a model 490 Strobe . These are far too specific and fiddly to use for keeping one's pipes in pitch. The 490 is very usefull for the final stage of tuning Concertinas, when the notes are within a few Cents of where you want them but the operator has to know where the notes are at that moment and tune the tuner into them. It will measure pitches to within a thousandth of a semitone but that is really only usefull for laboratory work. Total overkill for the pipes where basis pitch is all you need, and a pair of ears.There is a use however for such a gadget in measuring the position and strength of harmonic (upper partials) content of notes.... still this only backs up what the Ears will tell about the sounds.

I use a Korg AT 12 ( now obsolete) which has served me well since 1984. The usefull feature which I have not encountered on any other tuner is the ability to infinitely jog the reference pitch up or down to follow the pitch of a chanter as it warms up during playing. Now, most people will not need this feature but as I spend hours upon hours gradually bringing a new chanter up to Pitch during the tuning and voicing stage I find it most usefull because when a chanter has been played, is warm from being in your hands, the reed gets warmer air from the bag etc etc, the pitch is higher . Then you stop for a break or at the end of the day. When you pick up the pipes again the pitch will have dropped back perhaps 10 or 15 cents or more... so this ability to pick up the current 'drone pitch' is important, for me.
So, remember when arriving at the session with your pipes they will not play at quite the same pitch when you first strap them on, especially if they are at a different temperature than the air in the session space. Let them aclimate before adjusting the reeds !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Geoff.

[Cathy Wilde]

Thank you. I feel better now.

Sometimes those "first 15 minutes" lemon-sucking faces from session mates are hard to endure.

[geoff wooff]

Thank you. I feel better now.

Sometimes those "first 15 minutes" lemon-sucking faces from session mates are hard to endure.

Cathy,
I advise people to arrive well before the alotted start time of the session and unpack the pipes, especially so if the weather is inclement in any way .

The number of times I've seen Pipers start to play and "opps, I'm flat !" pull off chanter top, pull out reed, adjust bridle and unwind some thread so as to shove reed further into chanter... top back on .. test pitch... ok close enough. Ten minutes later repeat process in reverse.....

Little wonder Concert D pipers need to change their reeds often... with all the accident potential involved in just getting into tune with the accordeons !