Malcolm McLaren plastic GHB reed

[ChrisCracknell]

I have just (last week) received my plastic GHB reed (strength 16) from Mr McLaren. I got it set up no problem and have been playing it for a week. Nice man to deal with (email contact), fast service. (He also sent me a border reed to road test - another sign of his helpfulness.)

It is indeed very nice. It sounds good and stays in tune. I can almost rely on the "I tuned my pipes last week, so they'll still be in tune now...". This is ideal for an occasional (and not very good) GHB player like myself - mostly I am on the flute and when not playing that it tends to be my smallpipes. Cane may or may not sound better, but in my case, I spend too much time fiddling with dried out reeds and so do not get to play the pipes on the occasions where I actually get round to picking them up. (I have whopping great big eezedrone plastic drone reeds too.)

Here are a few of my recent clips, so that you can all see where I am at.

Last Pint, Flute
http://www.box.net/shared/gzhpjxjzbj

Da Ferry Reel, Flute
http://www.box.net/shared/8gag8xaqxs

Corn Riggs, Flute
http://www.box.net/shared/j6428v8jez

Corn Riggs, smallpipes
http://www.box.net/shared/cnm7vzxxaz

The Ale is Dear, smallpipes
http://www.box.net/shared/dlrun0f8mh

Pawky Adam Glen, smallpipes
http://www.box.net/shared/zrb3qn3cba

Parting of the Waters, smallpipes
http://www.box.net/shared/vkyjb66yud

(There is absolutely no way in the world that I am going to post a clip of my GHB playing!)

Chris

[pancelticpiper]

He graciously gave me a couple plastic GHB reeds to try a few years ago.

I'm impressed with how they play, the best synthetic GHB chanter reeds I've seen.

However on all the chanters I have (several GHB chanters from different makers) the E is extremely flat, the High G very sharp. I would have to take a dedicated chanter and carve out the E hole to suit the reeds.

I think that success would lie in him offering a special-built chanter designed around his reed which he could sell as a unit. I think there's a load of lower-level Pipe Bands around the world, especially in dry cimates, who would love to play such a chanter/reed set. Imagine it! A lower-level Pipe Band that can always play in tune.

[razzmaster]

About how much do they cost?

[Celtpastor]

...definitely less than Clanryes
@pancelt: They work perfectly within my Concert-pitch Shepherd poly-chanter. Maybe You got one for concert pitch as well by mistake..?

[ChrisCracknell]

It works fine with my chanter which is a Shepherd wooden one. More than that I do not know about the chanter since I got it second hand. It has however never been carved. It is not in A=440Hz, but rather somewhere near the modern band pitch.

I paid $45 Australian including delivery.

The only reed I've had problems with since my initial post has been the bass drone reed on my bellows blown smallpipes. A drastic change of temperature and humidity here in hamburg seems to have closed the reed up dramatically! I have a theory that the thread holding the (synthetic) tongue on has been affected by the weather. It has now settled down (as has the weather...) and everything is ok again. Glad I didn't need the pipes seriously in the last couple of weeks though!.

[ChrisCracknell]

Today I had my first public GHB appearance. (Not counting the private appearance in a pub on a friend's birthday a few weeks ago, though that had a captive (literally, since I was standing in the doorway!) audience of about a hundred.) This was in the square outside our flat, playing solo to accompany a lantern procession (St. Martin's day, I think...). Quite apart from the other aspects of the performance, it was 3 degrees C and raining. The McLaren Reed coped with the tuning perfectly, staying in tune with the Eezidrone drone reeds. No one else was playing along, so I don't know if the entire assembly was shifting in pitch. I had spent half an hour this afternoon playing next to the Alster (large lake in the middle of Hamburg) in the wind and drizzle to get the pipes and myself used to the idea. In the evening, the pipes were still spot on, though I did spend a couple of minutes breathing silently into them before starting to play.

My fingers got too cold though and condensation/rainwater on the chanter made it quite slippy - eventually forcing me to stop before we had completed our route. I have also found out that you can play "Ich geh' mit meiner Laterne" on the pipes... However "Laterne, Laterne, Sonne, Mond und Sterne" doesn't really work though since it is almost all on one of two notes repeated.