Plastic reeds (again)

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 2:32 am

Just curioius if anyone tried these degenerated little things from thumpmusic.

They have a number of these out on ebay and with the lack of bids one seem to have a fair chance to get these for buck each, wonder why!?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... tegory=624

/MarcusR

Bill Reeder · Post by **Bill Reeder** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 9:12 am

Uh, these look a lot like Pakistani Highland pipe practice chanter reeds and are not suitable for Uilleann pipe chanters. I think some folks have messed about with them from time to time to try to get them to work in the UP chanter. I had an old one laying about a couple of years ago and tried it myself and concluded that it wasn't worth the effort. I think it's easier to make or maintain a cane reed than to mess with plastic reeds, especially when they're designed for a completely different kind of chanter.

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 5:50 am

Thanks for your comments Bill.
Guess that’s why, they don’t get any bids.
Anyway, every once in a while I get this urge to find something completely weather consistent. Having a friend that’s quite skilled as a reed maker (at least a lot better than I am) and willing to experiment, we tried various plastics from yoghurt containers to medical x-ray film. So far, nothing have been even close to cane. Still hoping to find a superb fibrous composite or mix of alloys that will solve the difficulties of chanter reeding. And then we all lived happily ever after …….

Cheers!
/MarcusR

Royce · Post by **Royce** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 2:14 am

They actually work in certain Pakistani and some other chanters pretty well. I've got a Bob May chanter that takes one really well. You have to sand down about three or four of them, one of them will work well, and you have to extend the staple for most chanters, but the Pakistani chanters they really go in have longer heads on the chanters so they don't need the extension.

Royce

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 9:10 am

You might want to take some of these positive plastic comments with a grain of salt. The term "works" can be misleading. A piece of fiberglass or dried shark skin might work, but only in one sense, in that it viberates in tune. The quality that pipers and pipe makers mostly look for is probably what only cane (or similar natural material) can provide.

The weather and humidity--the exchange of moisture in the material--is probably what gives cane it's uniqueness, and what makes the difference between those materials that might "work," and those materials that give the tone and responsiveness so sought after by pipers who know and can tell the difference. It is true though that plastic reeds can be similar enough for some and can satisfy a certain kind of piper who is at a certain learning curve with the uilleann pipes.

AlanB · Post by **AlanB** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 11:40 am

Nicely put Lorenzo!!

Alan

jqpublick · Post by **jqpublick** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 3:20 pm

Why not reeds made out of Adamantine? (The stuff Wolverine's claws are made of), or Einstinium, or fire-hardened vaseline, or the ribcages of millipedes...or or or....

Note the well-intentioned sarcasm- if you're going to make reeds out of stuff that doesn't sound like....well, reeds, really, why not call it something else entirely?- I mean, really, they're called REEDS. Make 'em out of reeds and be done with it. Nothing else sounds the same because that's what makes Uilleann pipes sound how they do.

I play djembe and you use goat skin, nothing else, and african goat skins at that. Anything else just doesn't sound right, no matter how smooth the Remo salesmen talk, it's just not going to sound the same.

Uilleann pipes are famous/infamous for being tricky to play, and the reed's only a part of what makes them tough. If you want things to be perfect every time, play something electronic, like the theramin. No, wait.....

Mark

Sorry if my posts are too long, my friends always tell me I talk too much.
Hey, if I split this post up into single word posts, I could get a lot nearer to that magical 1000 mark. Ok, I won't.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 3:38 pm

jqpublick wrote:....Uilleann pipes are famous/infamous for being tricky to play, and the reed's only a part of what makes them tough. If you want things to be perfect every time, play something electronic, like the theramin....

What's the problem here??

If someone were able to make a good playing, realistic sounding synthetic cane suitable for chanter reeds that didn't cost an arm & a leg, have a government patent or some secret recipe to fabricate and it was unaffected by temperature or humidity changes, would you be interested??

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 4:35 pm

Why not reeds made out of Adamantine? (The stuff Wolverine's claws are made of), or Einstinium, or fire-hardened vaseline, or the ribcages of millipedes...or or or....

--Mark

................

Excellent!

"fired-hardened vaseline"....

hee hee hee.... where DO you come with lines like that?

BrianC

jqpublick · Post by **jqpublick** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 10:30 pm

Hey all, a couple of replies:

Tony;

Yes, I would be interested, who wouldn't? But, we spend a lot of time talking about a system (plastic) that we know doesn't sound like what we want. (If you're insulted by the 'we', please understand I'm not trying to do anything other than talk in generalities.) Plastic reeds sounded like a great idea to me at first, until I heard a couple.

I think they'd be great for practice, especially as where I live in Winnipeg has a winter humidity of about 5 to 10% (nosebleeds and cracked skin everywhere, even on the marsupials) and winter lasts about 1/2 the year, but so far they just don't sound right, and it's that sound that I listen for when I'm practicing. I've just recently begun to notice that there's a particularly good sound when the pressure's just right. Anyway.

I did read about someone once who had treated their reeds with some kind of oil bath and their claim was that their reeds were stable, no matter what. That sounds interesting to me. I mean, real cane AND constantly stable!? Why the heck not?

Brian:

Well, how should I put this? When Dad finally let me out of the box in the attic.... no, no, it's just too painful. The truth? The Orbital Mind Control Lasers tell me what to say.... no, I had that implant removed. Really my mother's a spy for the mighty hidden kingdom of Slapstikia....

Okay. I'm just flippant, and I love the bizarre. That and way too much Monty Python and the Marx Brothers as a kid. Oh, and the Three Stooges too.

But I never exhaled.

Uh...inhaled.

Yours, only partially serious,
Mark

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 12:03 am

Nudge, nudge - wink, wink - say no more!

Brian

marcpipes · Post by **marcpipes** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 12:09 am

As stated above, almost all attempts to make a plastic/synthetic reed have been less than satisfactory at best. We all know this and some view it as beating a dead horse. Some don't. If you have the time, the inclination and new ideas you may just be the one to succeed. Someday someone will. Please! Make us gladly eat our words.
Marc

Mind you, even if you do succeed there will always be ney sayers who shake there heads and say "Nope, it just doesn't sound enough like cane."
They usually say it after you show them the plastic reed.

Marc