UP chanter reed made of plastic

[Hans-Joerg]

I (proudly) would like to "show" this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RQ0hV3 ... CFSfm-liqo

[Christian Tietje]

gratulations!

[dunnp]

I have heard a nice B chanter plastic Reed by Arie de Keyser. It was shared on his Facebook.

Nice sound above as well.

[PJ]

Sounds in tune in both octaves. Difficult to draw conclusions on the tone because of the recording and my laptop speakers.

Any word on how the reed was made? What was the basic material? Was it gouged and scraped like a cane/spruce reed, or was some other method (3D printing) applied?

[Nanohedron]

Sounds in tune in both octaves. Difficult to draw conclusions on the tone because of the recording and my laptop speakers.

I agree, but compared to others I've heard before, I find myself very impressed for once. What I would like to hear is a side-by-side comparison with a cane reed.

Any word on how the reed was made? What was the basic material? Was it gouged and scraped like a cane/spruce reed, or was some other method (3D printing) applied?

Yes, do tell!

[Hans-Joerg]

For flat-chanters (Kiernan C) joghurt-cans seem to work best and for concert-pitch these brownish milk-powder-cans (with a screw-lid, for coffie - you get them in supermarkets,~ 60 mms diameter)

That is what I think about the material so far. Anyhow - I´m still "experimenting". Any proposals very welcome. You need some roundish stuff, you need the optimal diameter, the optimal "stiffness", the optimal thickness... So - it isn´t just a question of the material alone, but also of shape and statics. (Comes to that - you have to know a lot about reeds ...)

I use the usual staples (and the usual "slip-width"), hand-wrap them on with teflon- tape and "beautifulize" them after a week or so. (with thin thread) Plastic (like wood) has a tendency to warp and take the new shape (warp 5, Capt´n Kirk would like it )

Plastic is not as "scrape-friendly" as wood. It (averagely) takes about ten times as many "scrape-draws".

Tom says, that it only slightly sounds different from cane, but not "nasty". You would not notice, if you don´t know.

[oleorezinator]

Specifically which kind of plastic?
In the U.S. plastic in packages like you
are using have numbers to identify them i.e.:
“1” signifies that the product is made out of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) (beverage bottles, cups, other packaging, etc.)
“2” signifies high-density polyethylene (HDPE) (bottles, cups, milk jugs, etc.)
“3” signifies polyvinyl chloride (PVC) (pipes, siding, flooring, etc.)
“4” signifies low-density polyethylene (LDPE) (plastic bags, six-pack rings, tubing, etc.)
“5” signifies polypropylene (PP) (auto parts, industrial fibres, food containers, etc.)
“6” signifies polystyrene (PS) (plastic utensils, Styrofoam, cafeteria trays, etc.)
“7” signifies other plastics, such as acrylic, nylon, polycarbonate and polylactic acid (PLA).

[Tunborough]

The recommendations I've seen are to use polystyrene <6> or mylar for synthetic reeds. I haven't had any particular success with polystyrene, but that would be because:

you have to know a lot about reeds ...

which I don't. Sigh.

I've worked with polystyrene cold-drink cups from a certain iconic Canadian chain. I call it arundo doughnuts.

[an seanduine]

I have followed with intense interest the development of artificial double reeds, oboe and bassoon, by Légère Reeds. These are performance quality reeds. They have made some research into Scottish Great Pipe reeds. They have never responded to enquiries about Uilleann. The material they use is polystyrene plastic with 'molecularly aligned' strands, cut with diamond cutters. Perhaps they might be persuaded to donate some?

Bob

[Hans-Joerg]

I had a closer look onto the containers now. Thanks for the info, BTW!. I didn´t know nutin´ about plastic at all (until recently for example I didn´t know that a stuff called Mylar exists). All the stuff I use (obviouly) is PET.

The problem however is:
A friend of mine from Switzerland (Urs - he is here on C&F, too) told me about this Swiss company who have greenish colored PET-bottles. I thought it quite nice to have s. th. greenish for s. th. that is associated with Ireland and asked him to send me a few strips. He did that and also some PET-bottle strips from an other company: One worked fine and the other did not - though PET and 0.3 mms both. One felt "stiffer": I think they used less hardener for the other (and the company saved one billionst part of a cent per bottle ).

My advice would be: Go "hunting" at your local supermarket for stuff that looks apt for you and have a go. Such reeds are "quickly" (and cleanly) made and you don´t need any special things (exept for the teflon-tape and a roll of 0.5 mms copper wire perhaps). As said (so far!) joghurt-cans (~0.2 mms) for flat and PET-bottles (0.3 mms) for cp. The harder, the better. The purpose for posting the clip - exept for pride, of course - is "show, that plastic is possible" and gathering hints and pieces of experience from you.

A thing to consider: Among a good few other stuff I also tried this cole-fibre-plastic (sometimes also called Kevlar, I think). You get it in 0.2 mm flat plates (via ebay, e. g.). The stuff is awfully hard and you have to roll it ´round a cylinder for the shape first. At least it is fairly easy to sand/scrape but the dust is awful. I managed to get a working reed (though quite "hard") in the end - but it was by far not worth the effort.

[RenaissanceGuy]

In an older issue of the Pipers' Review (around 1997, I think), pipemaker John Pedersen talked about how he was trying to have a dialog with a company that was making reeds for orchestra instruments from some innovative new high-tech plastic, and obtain a sample of their material to experiment with. But that never went anywhere because the representative he spoke with was more interested in how many millions of dollars they could get by expanding into the UP market (Mr. Pedersen was trying to be a little more realistic).

[oleorezinator]

In an older issue of the Pipers' Review (around 1997, I think), pipemaker John Pedersen talked about how he was trying to have a dialog with a company that was making reeds for orchestra instruments from some innovative new high-tech plastic, and obtain a sample of their material to experiment with.

https://www.fibracelldirect.com/reeds.htm
I've been using these on alto & soprano sax
since the mid 90's. I love them!
The very next day after I tried them I called
the company to see if they were making double
reed and unfortunately they weren't and nothing
yet AFAIK. Kevlar is in this mix for sure.