Reeding a Crowley Chanter.

ausdag · Post by **ausdag** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 6:16 am

Does anyone have any experience with reeding a Crowley concert pitch wide-bore chanter? My friend has a (very heavy) Crowley 3/4 set and would like to get it back to working order and would like to know some dimensions for Crowley chanter reeds as he and anyone who knows, they aren't the easiest chanters to put a reed in. BTW, not sure if it's Dennis C or Taigh C.

Cheers,

DavidG

billh · Post by **billh** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:32 am

Crowley of Cork, not sure but I think Denis?

I reeded a Crowley not long ago (big wide throat in the thing, 5.39x5.29 (oval)). The chanter was 355.8mm length overall, does that sound familiar?

I made a reed that ended up working pretty well (A=440, but a rush of about 1mm diameter was required, sorry, don't remember exactly how long) . Here are the measurements I jotted down:

"12.7 wide, shoulder 11.0, scrape 22.4 (U shaped). Thickness across "body" of reed 4.1mm about 1/3 of the way up the scrape. LOA 81.4, wrap 51.5, crow at G#-20 cents. Staple H04-03[1]"

[1] staple H04-03 is i.d. 4.35, hand-rolled from 0.5mm copper, 52mm long, 13.6x15.4 width trapezoid.

I then made a better reed, but it seems that in the rush to deliver, my note-taking skills abandoned me. This second reed was substantially similar, but the crow was "G+50" (i.e. 50 cents sharp of G, or about 30 cents flatter than the first attempt) according to my notes.

Hope that helps,

Bill

beckitybek · Post by **beckitybek** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 8:03 am

Alan Burton recently re-reeded my early 30's T Crowley chanter, its singing, sweet as a nut (although very slightly sharp of concert pitch due to its being somewhat on the short side). I'd recommend getting in touch with him about it...

billh · Post by **billh** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 8:08 am

BTW ausdag the reed dimensions I posted used a "low bridle", i.e. against the top of the wrap. It was a light reed as well.

Hans-Joerg · Post by **Hans-Joerg** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:20 am

You also might ask Michael Hubbert cause he specializes on Crowley:
hubberts@mcn.org

ausdag · Post by **ausdag** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 2:45 pm

Bill, Thanks for the details. They will be very helpful. I'll pass them on to the chanter's owner.

Becky, yes, Alan contacted me yesterday and told me of his experiences reeding up your chanter so between his info and Bill's here I think I'm off to a very good start. The owner will be pleased with the response.

Hans-Joerg - Thanks for the lead. I'll keep that in mind too as another possible source of information.

Cheers all,

DavidG

reedman · Post by **reedman** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 6:01 pm

ausdag,go with the Leo rowsome style reed,

reed head width 13mm, slip thickness 1.4mm
staple, length, 48mm x4mm staple bore,
staple eye height 1.5mm,
staple 16mm inserted into the reed head,

if certain notes are flat the tube staple, you may need to make a
hand rolled staple for the job, what length is the chanter?
14"+ 1/4"inches or 14"+ 3/16 inches,interesting to know ausdag.

Matt Schibler · Post by **Matt Schibler** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 6:18 pm

Regarding Michael Hubbert's sets: He makes D sets based on his Crowley (Tadgh) set with a Taylor style triple bore bass drone. Michael O'Donovan has been making the chanter reeds for these sets.

(I know because I've just gotten a Hubbert D full set in the past few months).

I believe that the B chanters that Michael is currently making are based on a Michael Egan B chanter which belongs to Barry O'Neill. I have seen a few of these alongside the original Egan.

His website is: http://homepage.mac.com/photomorphose/hubbert.html

ausdag · Post by **ausdag** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 6:47 pm

reedman wrote:what length is the chanter?
14"+ 1/4"inches or 14"+ 3/16 inches,interesting to know ausdag.

Thanks for that Reedman. Not sure of the exact length as it's not my chanter but when I find out this weekend I'll let you know.

Cheers,

DavidG

ausdag · Post by **ausdag** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 6:48 pm

Matt Schibler wrote:Regarding Michael Hubbert's sets: He makes D sets based on his Crowley (Tadgh)

Thanks Matt. I'll keep that in mind.
DavidG

ausdag · Post by **ausdag** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:16 pm

I just found out from the owner, his crowley chanter has the following dimensions -

a 4.7mm throat
360mm long, compared with 355.8mm of BillH's chanter

Cheers,

DavidG

reedman · Post by **reedman** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 4:54 am

Hmm,as I thought, a 48mm staple should work this baby,

try a slightly tapered reed head for this chanter ausdag, and don't make the reed slips to thick either, 1.3-1.4mm max,all the best
with the mission.

billh · Post by **billh** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 5:41 am

ausdag wrote:I just found out from the owner, his crowley chanter has the following dimensions -

a 4.7mm throat ...

!

Something doesn't add up. Different Crowley perhaps?

Then again you might want to take that throat diam with a grain of salt, depending on how it was measured.

Bill

ausdag · Post by **ausdag** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 3:17 pm

Billh, I'll ask Malcolm to measure it again. He's had many years experience at measuring bores - the Coyne set he measured very accurately according to independent analysis - upon which he and Dicky Deegan based their work for some of the chanters Dicky plays now. So we should be able to accept that measurment with confidence, but we'll check and recheck just to be certain. But even Malcolm said he was surprised to find it considerably smaller than what he was expecting, so I'm assuming he has already rechecked it at least once or twice to be certain...I'll get back to you.

DavidG

ausdag · Post by **ausdag** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 7:56 am

I just got back from Malcolm's house where we measured the throat again and it came in at 4.7mm, as usual. Here are some pics -
Looks to be dark rosewood, silver plated. Stock, drones, chanter and chanter top all have 'Denis Crowley Cork' stamped on them -