Would the type of wood on the drones affect sound and tone to the extent it does in chanters? I am thinking of putting a half set together with mismatched woods.

Given that much of the drone is metal (some makers more than others), not to mention the mere fact that they are drones by nature, I would imagine there would be much less variation than you see among chanters of different woods.

Anyone care to chime in?

pp

Piperpenguin

Different types of wood can have an effect upon the overall sound gained
but there are many other factors to take into account as well.

Using say boxwood will give you a warmer tone than Blackwood just as in a chanter, bass drones have a certain amount of metal in their make up
some with a solid mid bass section, this changes the sound more than the other two drones that are entirely wood.

The warmest sound to me is a boxwood drone fitted with an elder reed then cane then the ever reliable composite reed giving the sharpest sound, if you are really good at making cane and elder reeds its a good thing, but many beginners like the composite as they rarely go off.

There are so many different guises for drones, some like a quiet tenor some louder, this is govered by the bore, all depends on taste.

If brass is used for the bass returns the sound is slightly warmer than nickel with Sterling silver the warmest, as is on a flute head joint.

Another technique often seen on Hunter instruments is, the bass returns have a triangulated shape, with a poin at the extremities, this actually changes the way the standing wave form runs along the bore, as air hits a circular tube at the bend it travells faster around the top side and slower at the lower side, changing the standing wave form pattern.
By triangulating the tube it balances out the two vortex's present and the result is a much steadier note.

Drone bore sizes and elder versus cane do make a difference but some of the best sets I've seen have a mini-sound box at the end of the tenor and baritone which you can see if the ivory mount is removable. I remember Jimmy O'Brien-Moran showing me the chamber on his straight drones with some pride. I think it helps with quieter (narrow bore) drones.

The material of the sound box on the bass also makes some difference to the tone. I recently swapped from a brass to ivory sound box and the tone of the drones has definitely changed.

Any other views on the use of undercut chambers on drones?

Ken

Hi Kenr

The small chambers you have seen are also seen on older sets too, The old Egan 1760 set that Peter hunter has for sale has these, the ivories are actuall threaded onto the timber, very delicate work, the wall thickness is also very thin letteing the sound buzz through the sides, just like a hollow stock does.

On other bass drones the end cans are hollow, this can make reeding
a tad more difficult, because the sound not only resonates within the can just like a silencer on a car where the sound has to change direction making the sound quieter, it has to change direction at the same time.

If an end can is solid the sound wave has a clearer path and is smoother still if the sound eminates from a straight trumpet.

Dear Davey,
Could you possibly post a picture of the triangular or angled set-up?
It sounds very interesting.
Thanks,
Marc

Hi Marc

How does one post a picture here, can you help me.

Davy.

Ken,
Resonating chambers on the ends of drones also cut down on the overtones produced, yielding a smoother sound. Often you will see no resonator on the end of a tenor drone. This gives the drone more overtones for more edge or bite to the tone. Pipemakers take bore size, resonator shape or no resonator into account to produce the overall balance and drone sound to match the chanter to the drones. This, coupled with the type of reeds used yield the overall drone sound. Elder reeds produce a mellower tone. Cane reeds give a woody sound, while some composite reeds, while the most stable of the lot, can produce a "tinny" edge or tone.

Ted

Davy,
I'm not too good with the posting pics bit, but there is information on how to do this in the pictures of your pipes thread. If it wasn't for email, games and p-rn I wouldn't know anything about computers.
Is ther a picture of that drone set up on your site? I searched and enjoyed, but didn't seem to find it.
Marc
P.S. Thanks for the duty information. It helped out at the Canadian border yesterday when I bought a new bag for the GHP.