CP: Chanter Reeds

[Howard Music]

Years ago we noticed that some reeds were “chanter friendly” in that they played well in many different makes of chanters, also that some chanters were “reed friendly”.

Many things contribute towards a chanter friendly reed. These are, not necessarily in order of importance, cane quality, gouging dimensions, outside shape of the cane, the scrape and the staple dimensions. Pretty obvious you might say but if any one of the above variations changes then the performance of the reed will suffer.

The last of these variations, the staple, is complicated and by the old method of beating sheet copper round a staple mandrill is difficult to repeat accurately so reed makers have used brass tube, intended for model making or specially manufactured. A few years ago some of the brass we used was slightly undersized as delivered from the manufacturer and this caused tuning problems. The way we corrected this was by re-spinning the tube. This process allowed us to experiment with tapered tubes and it was found that this gave stability in tuning and performance. Also it made the reeds “chanter friendly” and they performed well in many makes of chanter.

At the same time special tooling was made akin to that used in making bassoon and oboe reeds. In fact I had an opportunity to copy some tools made in Paris in the 1800’s. This made the accurate making of the reed slips repeatable and the variables controllable.

The one variable that is difficult to control is the quality of the cane. With practice we can spot cane that “wont work” and discard it. Now the success rate of reeds is very high and the bad ones are weeded out at an early stage.

We have been supplying reeds by post without pipers having to send the chanter for fitting for some time now and our “standard reed” seems to work well in many makes of chanter. We have reeds that are 90% finished always in stock so that we can deliver almost immediately on receiving payment by say PayPal.

We have spent a great deal of research time and money on developing these reeds and the associated reed-making supplies but it all seems worthwhile when we get comments from satisfied pipers.

See our web page for more details or phone +44 114 296 7272.



Howard Music

[Ceann Cromtha]

As I have mentioned before on the Forum, Mr. Howard's chanter reeds are superb and extremely versatile. I used his reed successfully in several chanters of different makes. Another amazing thing about his reed is its ability to work in different climates with varying degrees of humidity. I could provide several examples as I travel a fair bit with my pipes, but I'll choose one. Last spring I took my pipes to Germany from Maryland (USA). When I left departed, the weather in Baltimore was oppressively hot and humid, but when I arrived in Darmstadt the weather there was still a bit wintry and dry. I was lucky to have a hotel room with a balcony, so I took my set out and practiced there. There was no problem with the reed whatsoever, despite the radical change of climate and the trip in the overhead bin of the airliner.

I had been so impressed with Mr. Howard's reeds that I'd always wanted to buy a chanter from him but couldn't justify it (read "get wife's approval) due to the US dollar-British pound exchange rate lately. However, a month ago I finagled a deal and got a used one in the US. I have not regretted the deal at all and have been quite happy with the Howard chanter. It's comforting to know that if anything happens to the reed I can order another and get it immediately since he keeps them in stock. He has apparently perfected a uniform system of making superior quality reeds for a superior quality chanter. I highly recommend his work.

[Elrond]

I ordered a Howard reed as I am living in the Ukraine and there are no reed makers here. A friend from Moscow told me that he and all his friends have ordered Howard reeds and that they are all working great. As soon as I fitted the reed into my Ginsberg chanter it was playing right away, and all the notes are perfectly in tune. I am very pleased and would recommend this as a good solution to anyone living far away from their reed maker.

[Ceann Cromtha]

Right now in the dead of winter my Howard chanter with its Howard reed is the only chanter I have that has been unaffected by the conditions. I recently bought a tuner that can handle D just intonation and it is spot on all the way from bottom D upwards. It's really quite amazing. If it weren't for this, I'd be spending all my time messing around with reeds instead of practicing.

[Fergmaun]

Just placed order for a Howard D chanter reed for my Andreas Rogge D Plumwood chanter.

Will post back when reed arrives.

Cheers


Ferg

[madfortrad]

Excellent reeds from a very very smart man. His knowledge of pipes and reeds is truly fascinating.
There are many many pipers throughout the world who are suffering with dodgy reeds. To all of those people i would strongly suggest they get in touch with Brian.
I may be mistaken but I believe that he will offer a full refund if the reed doesn't work in your particular chanter. Provided of course there are no attempts of "surgery" by the customer.
I dont know of another professional maker who does this.

They are well worth it. Believe me

[rorybbellows]

How much does a reed cost ?

RORY

[waymer]

http://www.howardmusic.co.uk/shop/uille ... /reeds.htm
51 GBP

[rorybbellows]

http://www.howardmusic.co.uk/shop/uille ... /reeds.htm
51 GBP

Holy moly ,does he throw in a free chanter with that ?

RORY

[Uilliam]

Yes it is unkeyed , needs finishing and with free delivery..


Seriously tho, £51 is about average these days methinks.
Hows aboot a list here as to the comparison o prices.

So I shall start

Howard £51 GBP
Burton £50 GBP
Rogge e52 Euro
who's next....??

Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

[Ailin]

Has anyone played one of the Howard reeds in a Gallagher chanter? If so, did it play well without any tweaking? I'd possibly be very interested in trying one of these reeds if it is compatible with my chanter.

Ailin

[billh]

I think £75 is not unheard of. I won't name names but understand a couple of makers have routinely charged that. The one caveat is that those prices include fitting the reed to a chanter - usually a key part of the operation, which the Howard reed offer sidesteps.

My current price is 50e but am giving serious thought to raising it. (BTW I don't take remote orders for reeds - I'll occasionally agree to reed a chanter for an acquaintance but am too busy to extend a public offer of reedmaking services...)

[Sam L]

Yeah, I'm too busy to do reedmaking too really, but I think that £50 - £75 is not that much for a fitted reed that really works. Imagine what you'd want for your best reed if someone wanted to buy it off you in a session etc - a lot of people wouldn't sell at any price (well obviously that's not strictly true!). Put your price up Bill . . . . Eu50 that's only £37 before the exchange rate went tits up for us!

[Joseph E. Smith]

Brian's reed prices are on a par with a majority of other pipe/reed makers. And considering his testimonial (and those of happy customers) regarding their quality and versatility, well worth the price IMHO.

[Uilliam]

e50 = £44.50
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam