Mouth blown small pipes

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rebelpiper
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Mouth blown small pipes

Post by rebelpiper »

Anybody playing a set of mouth blown smallpipes with cane reeds? Got a couple questions
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pancelticpiper
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Tell us something.: Playing Scottish and Irish music in California for 45 years.
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Re: Mouth blown small pipes

Post by pancelticpiper »

Yes I play mouthblown SSPs but now I use all plastic reeds.

I've always played a plastic reed in the chanter, but I played cane in the drones until I found some plastic reeds that worked in them

It was an unusual situation: vintage "miniature Highland pipes or chamber pipes" (as they were called in the 19th century price-lists) that didn't come with any drone reeds. I tried a load of different reeds and ended up with uilleann reeds in the drones, which gave a great A=440 but of course had the instability that comes with cane reeds in mouthblown pipes.

Then I switched to EzeeDrone reeds, made for Concert Pitch (D) uilleann pipes, which like the cane reeds gave a perfect A=440 in the drones. (Reeds designed for "A" smallpipes gave a C or C#!)
Richard Cook
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
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