What is the word on these reeds? any views

[donpiper]

Bob, another question.

You said 'cane they aint' by that I gather the tone is different and inferior to cane.
How do they compare with respect to loudness, pressure, and how much air they take?

donpiper

[Fergmaun]

I got these drone reeds on 5 July 2011 "Uilleann pipe,Dronr Reed, Carbon Fiber,From Q1T". I did not get these reed to work correctly.

Today 26 September 2011 I replaced the Tongue and the rings on the Bass drone reed with
new tongue from white plastic card sheet same used by Andreas Rogge 0.5 mm thickness and using polyamide waxed hemp to bind the reed.

Opened the plastic tongue wee bit and put a small blob of Edam wax on tongue

The Drone reed works very steady with my Martin Preshaw composited tenor and baritone drone reeds made from Cherry and cane tongue.

Will to the same as the bass reed with the tenor and baritone drone reeds "Uilleann pipe,Dronr Reed, Carbon Fiber,From Q1T"

Photos will cone later.

Cheers

Ferg

[BzzzzT]

I spent some more time with these reeds to really get them where I want them. This is what worked for me.

I should preface:

Why go to the trouble of getting these reeds to work? I live in the desert. The average humidity where I live hovers around 3 – 15% most of the year; followed by dramatic swings when the weather changes. These extreme dry/humid swings have always given me trouble with cane reeds. Several years of making cane reeds and fighting this made me sick of messing about with my drones. My pet peeve is drones that waver in pitch or shut down. My quest is to find a solid synthetic material that was stable and sounded good with rich harmonics. I do not consider myself an expert, these are just my observations, take them with a grain of salt.

Below are 2 photos of the reeds in their current setup. They have been playing perfectly for over a month now in my D drones. I initially got the reeds working when I received them, but the volume and harmonics where not where I wanted them. I altered the elevation and added some cobblers wax to the tongues as needed. I made a new 3/16 bed for the baritone as the 7/32 bed made the volume too loud, and I was not getting good harmonics. I tried to give an idea of the elevation that worked for me and the tongue length from the binding in the photos below. I also gave the tenor tongue a snip to shorten the length.

I have made a few observations about the carbon fiber tongues:

In my drones, the tone is much better than a synthetic like styrene. It gives the tone an edge like wood or cane and good harmonics. Plastic it is not.

You need a good elevation to keep the reeds from shutting down and to get a good tone. This material vibrates VERY well, so a higher elevation is not a problem.

So far my feeling is, to get the reeds stable with the proper volume and good harmonics, you have to be willing to make new beds for the carbon fiber tongues as needed. The ID of the bore might give too great a volume and not be stable. Also the opening can dictate volume and harmonics. You have to play with these variables. Just get a few diameters of aluminum hobby tubing then cut down a wooden dowel to plug the end and fix it with superglue. Then all you need to do is a little sanding to make the bed.

David Daye has a first class video on youtube on making artificial reeds.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Dayepipes#p ... PIxufdrnUE

I was surprised by how good these little reeds sound in my drones. I always thought they would be junk. I have made numerous cane, synthetic and composite reeds for my drones and I think these sound great. I feel carbon fiber is a pejorative to most pipers, but I think this material deserves some attention. Due to different drone designs, setups etc., there is no certainty as to whether they will sound good or work out. I ordered some more to try in my flat set.

To me carbon fiber has a good tone and is very stable. I have not bothered putting my wood/brass composite reeds back into my drones as I really like this material in my dry climate. Another plus is these reeds sip air. I don't really care if my drones are on or not in regards to air draw.

I hope this helps the owners of these reeds set them up. They do not work out of the box, but will take some effort and patience on the pipers part with no guarantee of success.


- Jason

[donpiper]

Thanks Jason for the pics and the link to the David Daye video, and for sharing your experience.
Thanks to Fergmaun as well.

Looks like I had it wrong about the stability bend. Right place, wrong way!

cheers
donpiper