Greetings, I am new to this forum and I appreciate your patience in advance. I've been wanting to learn the uilleann pipe for the last 18 yrs or so and not wanting to live life simply I decided to build my own . Having completed a Half set (to wilbert Garvins plan) and made a few reeds, I'm really pleased with the results. BUT... I can't for the life of me get the 2nd octave beyond G . The A and beyond just drops back to the first octave. Ive scraped and tweeked and trimmed and hand rolled the staple etc but to no avail. Ive tried to find a trouble shooting site on-line that addresses this problem but failed. Could be problem lie with the chanter? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
There are no makers of UP within miles (N. Texas) that I'm aware of.
Ah, yes, chanter reeds, the piper's despair! I don't know if it may be a chanter problem or not. Can you test the reed in a known good chanter of the same design? The penny chanter or "squinter" designs might work better for you than the plans you have.
I have a feeling you may have scraped along the centerline too much. Make sure the centerline (line projected through the center of the staple) of the scraped area is thicker than at the bark edge.
Thanks for the quick response. I dont have a "normal" chanter available so I'm in the dark with both reed and chanter. I'll get cracking with your reed suggestion though. I'm unfamiliar with "squinter" designs could you shed some light? Does anyone out there have experience of the Garvin plans? Thanks in advance to all.
Again, I would caution against the penny-chanter design. It has flaws that have been confirmed by sorces extremely close to the chanter it was based from. It just isn't a reliable design for testing the playability of reeds. Again, this has been confirmed several times to me know by makers and players alike.
Any chance of getting to a tionól or even taking a drive to meet a piper somewhat close to you? I know I've taken 8 hour drives to get to a gathering - worth every mile. The information you will find from sitting down with a more experienced piper can be invaluable. Best of luck whatever you may decide.
Why not avail yourself of some of the books dedicated to UP reed design like Peter Hegarty's "The Uilleann Pipe Reedmaker's Guidance Manual" and DM Quinn's "The Piper's Despair" from NPU. If you are going to build your own stuff, you should also get the Sean Reid Society's CDs from NPU. There's lots of documentation out there, which clearly makes it obvious that there's more you need to know than what can be easily offered in a couple of brief postings on a forum like this.
There is a broken link, but here are the Leo Rowsome Concert D Chanter Dimensions and chart
As Measured by the Australian Pipemaker Craig Fischer Published in The Pipers' Review Magazine Nov. 1999.
Does your chanter have keys? They musn't leak, the springs must be strong and the pads seal fully. Fresh water kayak liner is excellent pad material, do a search for that on this forum and read up on it.
The chanter top must be reasonably snug on the chanter, and its top mount musn't leak either.
Your reed may simply be too hard, make a reed with a larger sanding cylinder which will close easier.
Awesome!!
I thank everyone for their responses. Ken thanks for the pm and fancypiper thanks for the tip on scraping too much on the centerline. All excellent advice. I made another reed and very soon had a full second octave (though the last 2 notes are a little hit or miss). I had made and fitted the 3 keys for the chanter but had not yet drilled the holes but I'll certainly think about alternatives to leather for the pads. Now I suppose i'll have to try some fine tuning, more turmoil I expect. I think I'll let the reed rest for a while.
Thanks again
I am new to this forum and I appreciate your patience in advance. I've been wanting to learn the uilleann pipe for the last 18 yrs or so and not wanting to live life simply I decided to build my own . Having completed a Half set (to wilbert Garvins plan) and made a few reeds, I'm really pleased with the results. BUT... I can't for the life of me get the 2nd octave beyond G 
. The A and beyond just drops back to the first octave. Ive scraped and tweeked and trimmed and hand rolled the staple etc but to no avail. Ive tried to find a trouble shooting site on-line that addresses this problem but failed. Could be problem lie with the chanter? Any help would be greatly appreciated. 
