Study comparing chanter woods
Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 5:37 pm
Mathieu Paquier, Etienne Hendrickx, Raphaƫl Jeannin. "Effect of wood on the sound of oboe as simulated by the chanter of a 16-inch French bagpipe." Applied Acoustics, Elsevier, 2016, 103 (Part A), pp.47-53. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 2X15002790>. <10.1016/j.apacoust.2015.10.008>. <hal-01249944>. Full text available at https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01249944/document.
This study compared 10 French bagpipe chanters, two each of five different wood species, each recorded with a cane reed and a synthetic reed. The listeners included both trained pipers and musicians who were not pipers. The listeners did notice a difference between the sound of the two reeds. While they did notice differences in the sound of different chanters, the differences did not seem to depend on what wood the chanter was made from. For example, they did a better job of distinguishing one of the African ebony chanters from the other, than they did distinguishing the first ebony chanter from either chanter made from boxwood or service tree.
"The influence of wood on the sound of chanters from french 16" bagpipes is therefore limited, and appears to be less important than micro-differences in manufacturing."
This study compared 10 French bagpipe chanters, two each of five different wood species, each recorded with a cane reed and a synthetic reed. The listeners included both trained pipers and musicians who were not pipers. The listeners did notice a difference between the sound of the two reeds. While they did notice differences in the sound of different chanters, the differences did not seem to depend on what wood the chanter was made from. For example, they did a better job of distinguishing one of the African ebony chanters from the other, than they did distinguishing the first ebony chanter from either chanter made from boxwood or service tree.
"The influence of wood on the sound of chanters from french 16" bagpipes is therefore limited, and appears to be less important than micro-differences in manufacturing."