Reeding a Penny Chanter Style Narrow Bore D Chanter

[David Polacheck]

Dear Group:

Following plans on David Daye's web site, a friend and I have coordinated on a narrow bore style D pitch chanter which was based on measurements made on a low pitch, narrow bore chanter by Harrington. The plans were rescaled to produce a narrow bore chanter pitched in D. The resulting instrument (produced Penny Chanter style) is very satisfactory but the problem is in the reeding. Our first thought was to use chanter reeds made by Brad Angus for his narrow bore D chanters, but this apparently is not working out. This type of reed was apparently made for a different chanter design and produces pitches almost exactly 1/2 step flat on the upper hand notes (i.e. A, B, C# and back D). Does anyone know who might be able to produce reeds for the narrow bore D chanter such as shown on Mr Daye's web site? Any thoughts as to whether our assumption that the reed is mismatched to this chanter is correct? The possibility exists that the top hand finger holes need to be opened/tuned, but we are reluctant to try this without knowing for sure that we are using a reed that is right for the chanter. We are also interested in opinions on the possibility that the Brad Angus reed is in fact perfectly fine for use on this chanter design. Or is there a way to modify these reeds to make them work well with this chanter? Has anyone out there worked with this type of chanter? What kind of results have you had? What kind of reed(s) have you used? Any thoughts/information on this topic would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

David Polacheck

[AlanB]

I advise getting Dave Hegarty's Reek (sic) Making book. You'll need to experiment with staple diam/staple>head/head width measurements before you hack away at holes etc.,.
E.g. I reeded a well known makers work a couple of months ago and usually it would take a 50mm staple. This one took a 53mm to get in pitch, plus a couple of other tricks. Nothing seems sure unless it's an O'Briain!!

Alan

[tansy]

have you checked with david daye, i know that the reeds for his penny chanter are very different than many in that they have a much wider head and a "spun" staple. his reeds are very afordable.
good luck,tansy