I have been playing Shaw reeds for several years in my Garvie A smallpipes, but I recently tried an Ezee chanter reed because the Shaw reeds have always suffered from frequent squawking when playing high G gracenotes on low a.

The Ezee reed does not squawk at all. No combination of notes will cause the Ezee reed to suddenly shriek like the Shaws. But the sound of the Ezee reed is much quieter and it has a muffled quality. The Shaw reeds are loud and brassy in my pipes, while the Ezee takes less air and sounds as though the chanter is wrapped in fleece. I have tried opening the Ezee reed by squeezing the sides of the wire bridle, but this just caused the read to become a bit louder and take much more air. It did not change the muffled quality of the sound.

Does anyone have experience with a reed that produces a dull, muffled sound? Are there tinkering/tuning options that might improve it?

My Hamish Moore smallpipes (with Moore reed) once developed a muffled tone. Strangely a tiny bit of fluff from the inside of the bag had made it's way between the blades. Other than that I would say the only explanation would be the character of the cane. Trying another Ezee reed, maybe a slightly harder one, is all you can do if you've already opened out the reed.