Chiff and Fipple Forums

Hey has any Uilleann pipe makers incorporated this tuning device into their chanters? seems like a great idea to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBLsfLh7w0A

Not this kind of contraption, but Andreas Rogge has been offering tuning slides on his chanters for years. Hendrik Morgenbrodt, who apprenticed with Andreas, does them as well.
uilleann-pipes.de
morgenbrodt-pipes.de

I recently saw a photo of a chanter which seemed to have a Rogge-type slide on it. That said, it could also have been an attachment for a mic.

Thanks guys, why is it not a whole lot more common?

Possibly because Chanters are finicky enough without adding tuning slides.

My guess: I think it's fairly complicated to make (and might need to adjust chanter bore design to make it work?), and introduces ways for things to leak. Plus, is it that important to be able to adjust the height of the reed? Or, rather, (obviously it's important to adjust the reed height), is it important to be able to adjust the reed in this way? I'm not playing in a quartet or anything, so I'm not the one to ask, but I don't need to adjust the height of my reed too often. That said, I could imagine it might be more a case of a tool you never knew you needed, and then is invaluable once you do have it.

From an engineering standpoint, the bulk of the housing lends itself to be unobtrusive on GHB, not so much with UP. It would look weird like this. Andreas' tuning slides are very easy and out-of-the-way, particularly for his regulators with the external knob behind the keys. Very smart setup.

It's quite easy to make a very cheap low-tech tuning method to move the chanter reed up or down, in order to adjust the tuning.

In my Williams D chanter I've placed the chanter reed staple in a short brass tube (10 mm) which in turn sits in the throat of the chanter. In order to sharpen or flatten it's just to move the reed up or down. This has worked well for me for many years now.

Especially in the winter months here the back d will often be flat at the start of a session, or when starting to play at home. So just by moving the reed down a tiny bit in the brass tube the back d is sharpened without having to resort to unwrapping any binding in order to sink the reed further into the chanter throat, or having to add binding to correct a reed if the A for ex., is too sharp.

It's just to find the right size diameter of tubing that fits into the chanter throat ,and snugly fits the chanter reed staple while allowing the staple to be moved up or down inside the tubing when necessary.

Steampacket wrote: ↑Fri May 20, 2022 3:01 am In my Williams D chanter I've placed the chanter reed staple in a short brass tube (10 mm) which in turn sits in the throat of the chanter. In order to sharpen or flatten it's just to move the reed up or down. This has worked well for me for many years now.

Interested in what dimensions you arrived at for the tube in your Williams? Sounds like a great idea for chanters that don't have an in-built slide. Not much real estate in the throat.

I had an uilleann chanter many years ago, sorry I can't remember the maker, where there was no "reed seat" expansion above the throat, but rather the throat was continued as a straight bore all the way up to the top of the chanter.

This ID was the same as the OD of the brass-tubing staple, so the staple could be slid up and down (no hemp on the staple, just a plain long brass tube).

That Campbell geared-knob contraption sounds like a great idea, especially for Pipe Bands, but it hasn't caught on as far as I'm aware.

I can't recall seeing a single pipe band using it. Little's the wonder, because the bane of a band's tonemeister is the pipers mucking around with their reeds and tuning-tape thus undoing all his hard work. The last thing a tonemeister wants is a device that makes it easier for the pipers to get their reeds out of order.

pancelticpiper wrote: ↑Thu Jun 09, 2022 6:52 am I had an uilleann chanter many years ago, sorry I can't remember the maker, where there was no "reed seat" expansion above the throat, but rather the throat was continued as a straight bore all the way up to the top of the chanter.

This ID was the same as the OD of the brass-tubing staple, so the staple could be slid up and down (no hemp on the staple, just a plain long brass tube).

This sounds like the design of my Nick Whitmer chanter. The throat is a brass tube also, and the staple just slides in and out of the throat when you want to adjust it (not that I'm skilled enough yet to do that).

Ken

"Interested in what dimensions you arrived at for the tube in your Williams? Sounds like a great idea for chanters that don't have an in-built slide. Not much real estate in the throat. dmeagher2020"

The tubing doesn't go far down into the chanter throat and blue tac or something similar can be used to keep the tubing stable and secure.

I just found a piece of brass tubing that fitted the staple diameter snugly, but not so snug that I couldn't move the staple a few millimeters, 0-5 mm up or down within the tube. Then the tubing which is only about 10 mm long goes into the chanter throat, maybe 5-6 mm, just enough so that is stable and not wobbly. I use bluetac around the tube where it sticks out of the chanter throat to make it airtight and to heip with stability. Then it's just to insert the reed staple into the tubing.

Steampacket wrote: ↑Fri Jun 10, 2022 3:43 am "Interested in what dimensions you arrived at for the tube in your Williams? Sounds like a great idea for chanters that don't have an in-built slide. Not much real estate in the throat. dmeagher2020"

The tubing doesn't go far down into the chanter throat and blue tac or something similar can be used to keep the tubing stable and secure.

I just found a piece of brass tubing that fitted the staple diameter snugly, but not so snug that I couldn't move the staple a few millimeters, 0-5 mm up or down within the tube. Then the tubing which is only about 10 mm long goes into the chanter throat, maybe 5-6 mm, just enough so that is stable and not wobbly. I use bluetac around the tube where it sticks out of the chanter throat to make it airtight and to heip with stability. Then it's just to insert the reed staple into the tubing.

I found some 7mmx0.5mm brass tubing which worked a dream. One wrap of waxed hemp and it fit as if it was made for my Froment chanter. No stress on the throat. About 12mm long. Very secure and works like a dream. Much easier than adding and substracting bits of hemp. Thanks for the idea.