no reed problems

[tansy]

Ever since I learned to make my own reeds I have had no reed problems at all. 2 years now. I use to have all kind of problems and bought about 2 reeds per year. I'm not braging, it shure is nice to have it always working properly, I hope my luck holds.
Any of you on a good reed roll?
Tansy

[PJ]

I made a nice reed a few months back. It was a little stiff in the beginning but is beginning to play a little easier now. It surprised me by remaining in tune during the humid july weather. Most of my previous reeds didn't like humidity at all. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I finished the inside of the slip with 600 grit sandpaper. I've heard that the smoother the inside of the reed, the less it is affected by humidity.

[mike spencer]

Hi PJ,have you tried David Dayes heat treatment method yet?I might try it shortly as it gets pretty humid out here also and the reeds act up a bit.

[PJ]

I've not tried the heat method. I was going to give the wet method a go first.

Then there's the rhythm method, but I've heard that's only for regulator reeds

[tansy]

my reeds travel a lot. When I am on board the boat, humidity varies from 35% to 95% almost daily. I've often wondered if perhaps this constant change might be good for the reed. Keeping it so confused that it just behaves

[Joseph E. Smith]

Ever since I learned to make my own reeds I have had no reed problems at all. 2 years now.

Seems to me all pipers could take this to heart and benefit from it.

[Charlie Skelton]

Regarding changes in humidity, I would think that it probably does help with stability in the long run as the initially bound reed is full of stresses, and changes in humidity as well as playing and simple ageing will work the the structure and reduce the stresses as the cane gets the hang of being in its new shape.
I'm not sure how productive artificial ageing is, Vuillaume experimented with this on his violins and whilst initial results were encouraging the instruments died early, albeit half a century later.
My experiences with uilleann and smallpipe reeds is that they are best left largely alone and they ultimately settle down and become fairly usable from a musical point of view. I find a noticeable change over the first month or so, then a similar change over the next year or so. Playing seems crucial ( a reed left in the box, or on the side, is often as bad as when you last tried it) which bearing in mind the amount of structural movement a playing reed gets is many thousands of cycles as opposed to a slower diurnal or annual movement dictated by humidity and temperature variation, but those variations work deeper on the material of course.

[meemtp]

I wish I could say I wasn't having problems. With the weeks of excessive humidity (our climate is ordinarily drier foothills weather), my baritone drone reed won't work beyond bottom D, one chanter reed is totally hard and out of tune and the other is closed as much as feasible and now so hard as to feel like playing a hard concert pitch reed. We had one dry day out of the last month and it wasn't until the end of the day that things started to show signs of getting better...and then it got wet again.

[uilleannfinlander]

Mr Vignoles was here couple( 4)months ago having few wonderfull church concerts....we had reedmaking workshop at my place and he told... (Michael arrived straigth from States to Finland after visiting and playing different places of US).
that he 's played the same reed now about 8 years...any problems at all ...even changing places to east coast to west and then to scandinavia and and playing with organs at churches ...and pubs too. .I can say that pipes were in tune indeed.
I think this super nice person is really proff. with these ...just call him and ask moore about .

[tomk]

It has been so rainy here in maine that my reeds have been growing sprouts ,, lol .
I like , when it stops raining,,, to make reeds mostly using an approach that will be my best attempt at getting everything close to in tune as possible , then when I play on it , the reed should , in theory , have a longer life since it is just going with the flow .
or , sometimes i can make them using alot of tricks to get them tweeked , for example , super gluing the tails and pulling very tightly to get alot of tension in the reed first , then using the bridle to close it all down ,, some .
The old taylor style reeds were made relying on the strong fibers close to the rind of the cane to get the advantage of having the reed flex well .
There are more middle of the road styles that will work and achieve a beautyfull tone with a long reed life that would use the opposite approach , i.e. gougeing less , using a softer cane and using the bridlle to open the reed.
The trick is with either method to make sure that the eye at the lips is not too open after it is tied to the staple , I like to profile the basic U shape out befor I tie the reed , though this is where it can be overdone , also sanding too much or pulling too hard while tying , all depends on the relitive hardnesss or softness of the cane slip and the arc at the lips . tok . When the rainy season ends ,,