French Reeds

[anima]

the reeds in my Cornemuse du Centre are composite (reed and drone). Looking around online it looks like most chanter reeds for french pipes are composite. Anyone using cane?

[MichaelLoos]

Matthias Branschke (www.dudelsackmanufaktur.de/) makes excellent cane reeds for cornemuse.
Guy Cesbron (www.anchecesbron.fr/) also offers cane reeds besides composite, I haven't tried them yet.

[anima]

how does the sound compare?

[MichaelLoos]

Cane reeds do sound "better", but that's probably not what you wanted to know...
I find it hard to describe a sound, best would be to try and compare for yourself.
I guess the cane reeds have stronger lower harmonics, and less of the higher ones.
I am very sure most of the French makers offer cane reeds, too, I can't imagine Bernard Blanc supplying plastic reeds exclusively, but for a student model cornemuse (intended for beginners in the first place) I see much benefit in using plastic reeds.
I would be very much surprised if Sean "le cornemuseur" Folsom would not know a source for Cornemuse reeds in the US.

[Nic]

I think that most of the bechonnet models have cane reeds

About the differences between cane & plastic, here's a true story: Bernard Blanc invite some pipers (some of them well known like Jean Blanchard) and make them pass a blind test. Same chanter, cane VS. plastic. Well, everyone has strayed, what they think was cane was plastic and the inverse is also true. My point here is to say that yes, there is of course differences, but a well made plastic reed can be more powerful and have great harmonics than a cane reed, and the inverse could also be true...depending who and how is made the reed !

[anima]

I find it interesting that that french have managed to make composite chanter reeds that work, but we still can't do it for the uilleann Pipes or Gaita.

[MichaelLoos]

For the uilleann pipes it just doesn't seem to be possible, if they work at all, they don't sound right, although people have been trying for at least 25 years.
For gaita it does work, although these are not commercially available. However, for a "female-type" gaita, Cesbron's reeds for 11-pouce cornemuse might work okay (untried because I make my own).

[CHasR]

For the uilleann pipes it just doesn't seem to be possible, if they work at all, they don't sound right, although people have been trying for at least 25 years.

agree that this is an exercise in futility! The closest aproximantion ive had was a reed with a curved tip & shrink wrap tyeing, over a rolled aluminum staple..go one somewhere still I think...picture one day

[anima]

who has done gaita reeds?

[MichaelLoos]

who has done gaita reeds?

I have.

[anima]

And? sound? pix? You can't just leave us hanging like that

[MichaelLoos]

Sorry, I have no recording equipment, so I can't do sound samples. I myself don't hear much of a difference in sound compared to a cane reed, but then, I'm not a gaitero - I have a gaita and I can play a couple of tunes on it, that's all.
I can try to make a pic the next time I make a gaita reed, but don't expect anything spectacular - I make them from yoghurt containers, bound with polymide thread, very much the same as my cornemuse reeds, only that the staple has to be shortened to 23 - 18 mm, depending on the particular chanter, and the lips have to be opened a little bit more.

You can't just leave us hanging like that

Well, I don't offer them commercially, so I guess I can...
I've only ever made a handful of them, for people in the area who have gaitas, but in all cases I had the chanter at hand. As these can differ from each other quite a lot I'm not at all confident I could make a reed that fits all.

[anima]

cool, thanks.