Back D

Uilleann Pipes
1

Hi thar!


My chanter reed is quite troublesome, it’s the daye reed that came with my daye chanter, wich i bought second hand from a member on this forum.

So, the back D is very unstable, if it gets just a little bit too much pressure it either starts to “slurr” or “gurgle”, or it drops down to a C or something like that (Havn’t checked with a tuner). I’ve tried opening the reed pretty much untill i couldn’t stand the high volume, but it’s still unstable.
If this reed turns out to be crappy i will be in company with experienced pipers and pipemakers in about a month, i’m planning on getting some reeds there, or atleast get this reed fixed.

Any ideas? :confused:

2

There are several causes but usually this is caused by the mouth of the staple being too open. Wrap some dental floss around the reed head so that it will remain stationary, remove the binding from the reed, with pliers, close the staple mouth a bit ( down to around 1mm should do it) reinsert the staple, then re bind the reed.

You can also trim the lips a bit to ( 1/32" ) make the reed stronger.

Go to my website below and download the free reed adjusting pamphlet.


Good luck,
Pat Sky

3

I trimmed the lips very briefly (probably a lil less than 1/32"), and it pretty much made it worse :S. My guess is that the reed is crap. Since i bought it from a guy in france, he might have had David Daye adjust it for the French climate, and that adjustment made it not work in Sweden? …
If i hold just one note the sound is really sweet, it’s just that the reed is unstable..

I just wanna get my chanter going to that i can enjoy learning this instrument without major troubles. A lil’ reed tweaking comes with the pipes, but not all too much, eh? :slight_smile:

4

Order a reed from David Daye! His chanters are all the same so you don’t have to mail him your chanter. he’ll send you out one and you’ll be playing in no time.

I would call him first to go over what you are looking for (easy, med, hard) and the type of climate you live in. He has done it for me and has been spot on.

His site is daye1.com .

Good luck!

5

I was just thinking of ordering another reed from Daivd :slight_smile:

Is it possible to order by email, or do i have to send my order to david by mail? Since the letter then has to cross the atlantic ocean just to get to him it would be alot easier if i could order by mail

6

Moving the bridle up half a mm or so sometimes already does the trick. It might even be enough to move it up on one side and let the other side where it is, resulting in a “crooked” bridle.

Hey, that’s a nice nice name for a tune…The Crooked Bridle…hmmm… :smiley:

7

1/32" is a huge amount in this business. Possibly it was already cropped once before, to make it play with stronger pressure.

Good news is that it just might be possible to revive it by sanding/rescraping to thin the reed out, then open it slightly. However, this is probably not something for a novice to try, as the adjustments required are so small.

Email David D., he should be able to send you something that works. (It’s on the website).

Bill

8

Yeah, i think i’m getting a new reed from daye, that works :slight_smile:
If i get a reed that works perfectly i can use the other one to learn a thing or two about how they react to scraping/Sanding etc.

9

Of course, the best solution is to learn to make your own reeds. :wink:

10

I will be going to Tionol by the end of this month, there will be a reedmaking workshop there. :slight_smile:

11

Who will hold the workshop? I attended a workshop held by Andreas Rogge and it was really insightful. I made four reeds, three of them worked, two worked well and one worked very well - I’m in the process of tweaking it more and more, and it really starts to sing. Making reeds is a great way to find out how pipes work - it really shows you how severe even the smallest adjustments can be and how spirited this instrument is…

12

Chris Bayley and Bill Haneman will be there, i think Chis will be holding the workshop.

13

I’m pretty sure that this reed is completely “dead”. It’s not even nearly in tune with it self, and it’s extremely instable, and i think i know what might have caused it. The reed was made to suit a dry climate, and the humidity in the air here has been up at around 80-99% here… Are problems caused by “extreme” climates easily fixed, or should í just order a new reed from David Daye?

I just want to know if there’s any hope for my current reed. :slight_smile:

14

I would order a new reed as I sense frustration mounting from your posts. You might should order a spare staple as his penny chanter reeds use a "spun "staple which is different from other chanter staples, and of course save the one on your troblesome reed, you will need them in your class.