Newbie with reed troubles (film at 10)

Calum · Post by **Calum** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 10:28 am

The United Kingdom was shocked to learn early this morning that a newbie to uilleann piping was having reed troubles. The full sorry saga follows.

Howard D chanter with Howard reed; whether tailored for the chanter or not I don't know. Age of the chanter unknown; recently bought second hand. Very space age looking.

When I got it, it was flat of concert pitch by a quarter tone. As it was consistent up the scale, I left it at that till I got used to playing with it a bit. Now that I've got to the point where I can hack through tunes like the Dublin Reel with a vague idea what I'm doing, I decided to have a go at the dark art of reed manipulation. Problems to start with were: flat of concert pitch, sinking back D with overpressure (about enough pressure to just play an F), and no hard D. The reed was pretty hard to blow; I wouldn't have liked to see it in a set with drones and regulators going, but not unplayable by any means.

I've managed to get it set into concert pitch; I've only been able to do this by removing the hemp and getting the reed stuck right into the chanter, which has a brass sleeve in the reed seat, right up to the bottom of the slips. I'm sure a reed isn't supposed to do this, but it works at an ideal pressure. However, I'm left with a few problems, maybe related:

Back D is weak; depending on bridle adjustment I can get it to either be weak all the time or only when overpressured (is it normal to have a back D that sinks under pressure, and if so, how much pressure should it be able to take before it sinks?), normally sinking down almost to C#.

The bottom D is prone to gurgling under increased pressure; again bridle adjustment has taken this from always gurgling to just gurgling with pressure, but still not what I'd think of as ideal.

Sticking with the bottom D, I can't get a hard D. Sometimes I get a chirp, where the reed has started to go hard, but immediately falls back into the soft D, and really overpressuring occasionally gets this to last a bit longer, but it's neither sustainable nor controllable.

I get the distinct impression that what it needs is some expertise with the bridle and pliers, but my ignorant attempts have pretty much left me going round in circles.

Any thoughts/help/advice, much appreciated.

Cheers,
Calum

Pat Cannady · Post by **Pat Cannady** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 10:39 am

Sounds to me like perhaps a little off the top may be in order - perhaps trimming a spider leg or two off the tip might help.

You might also want to try putting a short piece of drinking straw in the throat- it won't mar the wood and it will help the hard D.

AlanB, Brendan, David, etc. - What do you guys think?

Calum · Post by **Calum** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 11:12 am

Yes, I thought it might be a case for the knife. I'll reserve it for when I'm really annoyed with it, so that I can screw it up and send it to Alan

I tried dangling a bit of hemp down the throat; not sure if that'll have the same effect as a straw, but all it did was to soften up the tone slightly; although the hard D was a bit more willing to chirp, it wasn't really a material improvement.

I'm not sure that the blades aren't too thick...certainly the chanter reed on my smallpipes is much thinner. Difficult to describe...the blades are maybe a quarter of a mm thick at the tip (by eye).

Cheers,
Calum

Pat Cannady · Post by **Pat Cannady** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 11:24 am

If it's that flat in the first octave, even with the reed all the way in the seat, then you may want to unwrap the reed and insert the staple a bit deeper, or trim it a little - or maybe both(!). Neither task should be undertaken lightly. You should really have someone like Alan look at it ASAP - and don't try sanding the blades, it may not help and could do irreparable damage, ie you think your back d is weak now...

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 11:28 am

What Pat said!

Chris Bayley · Post by **Chris Bayley** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 1:17 pm

If going for the "spider legs" (I like these technical terms) then a hard surface to cut against and a nice firm sharp blade e.g. Stanley Knife.

Better would be to find someone near who is used to reeds and their naughty little habits, either a maker or an experienced player to show you how.

Where abouts are you - if we know then someone may volunteer ?

djm · Post by **djm** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 2:05 pm

Calum, Brian Howard gets a lot of praise from his customers on this forum. Have you tried contacting him about this? Even though you bought second hand, I would be surprised if he didn't offer to help you out in some way.

djm

Kilkee · Post by **Kilkee** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 2:24 pm

djm wrote:Calum, Brian Howard gets a lot of praise from his customers on this forum. Have you tried contacting him about this? Even though you bought second hand, I would be surprised if he didn't offer to help you out in some way.

djm

Brian just left the country this morning and is not back before the end of april. I think he certainly will help you. Otherwise for more intensive advice you can take a tour with the long boat in june. Look on www.howardmusic.co.uk/

phcook · Post by **phcook** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 3:31 pm

Hard reed with weak back D? I would try another reed.

Philippe

Calum · Post by **Calum** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 4:30 pm

Yep, contacting Brian was my next move...just wanted to plumb the collective wisdom first. No point sending an email saying "hey, your reeds suck", when all it needs is a sprinkling of fairydust.

I would reckon the nearest Uilleann piper will be in Edinburgh; I'm in the Borders, halfway between Kelso and Gala, thin pickings for pipers, I would guess.

I'd love to do the longboat, but I doubt whether (a) I'd be competent enough to get full measure out of it by then, and (b) I'll probably be unemployed and skint by then (anyone want to take on an unqualified bad piper?).

Cheers,
Calum

atennant · Post by **atennant** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 7:37 pm

Calum,
I'm moving to Gala in July, so there will be at least one other "piper" fairly close, although the bad news is I've only been playing these things for a few months and most of that time was spent making my own half set and struggling with homemade reeds. Similar scarcity of pipers in Western North Texas. Looking forward to a real pint!
Cheers

The Sporting Pitchfork · Fri Mar 12, 2004 1:01 am

Well, when I was living in Scotland, the only thing I watched at 10 o'clock was "The Ten O'Clock Show." Had Ali G on it. I'd like to see what Ali G would do with a Howard chanter...Or with Brian Howard for that matter.

I seem to recall that driving from Glasgow to Kelso took somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 1/2 hours...Then again, I was driving with a serious AC/DC fan and I think the music was affecting his driving. There's people up in Glasgow who could probably get you sorted out pretty quick, so it might be worth the drive/hitch. Plus, I'll bet you're just dying for a deep-fried Mars bar, aren't you? Kill two birds with one stone.

...Sorry. J/K

If you do decide to eventually just get a new reed, I seem to recall that Fred Morrison makes reeds for UPs. I think he's living out on South Uist now. Or is it Benbecula? Anyway, if you sent him a letter requesting a new reed to the following address...

Fred Morrison
Somewhere in the Western Isles

...he'd eventually get it and make you a nice new reed.

Good luck. Give my regards to Sir Walter Scott when next you see him.

teirw · Post by **teirw** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 3:12 am

Hi Calum,
I'm one of Brians very satisfied customers.Brian has just left for Australia and Tasmania, teaching and demonstrating and will be gone for six weeks.When he returns he will definately sort out the problem easily.But in the meantime I will happily send you a reed which I have made from Brians kit ( and with his tuition) which plays fine in my Howard chanter.If you pm me with contact details you are welcome to try it out and there is no charge.Brian has been fantastic with help and advice to me and it's the least I can do in his absence.Best of luck

Roger O'Keeffe · Post by **Roger O'Keeffe** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 3:30 am

This is the sort of thread which reminds me why I like to hang out at C&F so much.

And no, I'm not being ironic even though I'm a European

teirw · Post by **teirw** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 3:46 am

Hi again Calum,
It occurred to me that a reed from Brian himself would probably be in stock at www.howardmusic.co.uk because his family will keep the business ticking over in his absence.And about the Floating Tionol, absolute beginners are welcome as well as any level of ability, in piping, reedmaking or even whistle playing.I can say from my own experience that Brian will have you making your own reeds in that time.I like my reeds easily- blown and quiet ( what Brian calls a bed-sit reed) and he showed me how in just a couple of sessions.

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Newbie with reed troubles (film at 10)

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