CP Stainless Steel Staples by Howard Music Ltd

[ambaiste]

Brian has been working on a new staple design.
The research has been worth the effort and the cost as the reeds are sounding great.
The main differances between the new and old staples are:

1. The material. This is stainless steel.
2. Method of production. The staples are machined all over giving greater accuracy and reproductability.
3. The bore shape of the staple has been extensivley researched to give optimum tone and tuning.
4. Special tooling has been produced to shape the difficult to machine stainless steel.
5. Unfortunately they cost more to produce.

As with previous designs of reed we keep reeds in stock and they can usually be dispached on receiving a PayPal order. Other methods of payment are, of course available.

Howard reeds are designed to work in many makes of chanter and according to our customers they do work well.
So if you want a good strong back D a good hard and soft D as well in tune second octave why not try one.
www.howardmusic.co.uk

[Ceann Cromtha]

I am a lucky first customer of this new design (borrowed, I think, from oboe/bassoon staple manufacture). As far as I undertstand it, it is a different way to make a staple vis-a-vis conventional designs for uilleann pipes, which are either 1. rolling a staple from sheet metal (e.g., copper) or 2. forming brass hobby tubing into a staple. Brian now takes a cylindrical rod of stainless steel and milles it on a special lathe as if it were a minature chanter. So, it is conical inside (maybe outside as well) and includes perturbations to improve tone.

The Howard reed I was playing was of the old design and I thought it was working about as well as I could expect an uilleann chanter reed to perform. The new reed, after a few minor adjustments -- moving the bridle and positioning it in the tuning slide -- outperformed it, especially in the upper octave.

Kudos to Brian for more innovation in uilleann pipe design!

[ambaiste]

Here is the photograph of the reed and new staple.

Dorothy Howard

[Fergmaun]

I have placed order for one of these reeds for my Andreas Rogge Wide bore plumwood chanter and was posted today.

Thank you for your order and payment.
Your reed is in the post.

We do give a full money back gaurantee if the reed is returned in the same
condition that it left our workshop i.e. no cutting or scraping

regards Dorothy

I should get the reed tomorrow or next day and I will let you how I get on.

Cheers

Ferg

[karl]

I have one of these reeds. Both octaves are bang in tune with each other.

[bensdad]

I guess I must be getting old. I was about to say that I thought 51 quid was a bit steep, but that's because I haven't had to buy a reed in 20 years or so. A quick comparison of chanter reed prices reveals that the new Howard reed is a bargain:

Howard: $81
Pat Sky: ~$80
Kirk Lynch: $100
Tim Britton: $120
the exception--Martin Gallen of Banba Design: ~$25

So get them while they're hot. Anyone tried one in a K&Q chanter?

[gedpipes]

Out of interest - why is it that Reeds for Uilleann chanters are more than three times as expensive as reeds for Northumbrian pipe chanters? They don't take any longer to make and use the same materials?
Ged

[PJ]

Out of interest - why is it that Reeds for Uilleann chanters are more than three times as expensive as reeds for Northumbrian pipe chanters? They don't take any longer to make and use the same materials?
Ged

They produce a better sound

[Lars Larry Mór Mott]

Out of interest - why is it that Reeds for Uilleann chanters are more than three times as expensive as reeds for Northumbrian pipe chanters? They don't take any longer to make and use the same materials?
Ged

They produce a better sound

Was just going to post "They don't sound like Nintendo consoles" (also with tongue firmly in cheek)

[rorybbellows]

Out of interest - why is it that Reeds for Uilleann chanters are more than three times as expensive as reeds for Northumbrian pipe chanters? They don't take any longer to make and use the same materials?
Ged

Because up to this point they could charge what they want, now that Martin gallen is on the scene hopefully that might change. The other theory is that most pipemakers dont really want to be making reeds anyway ,so they charge prices that would put off most pipers and so encourage the piper to make their own reeds.

RORY

[Ted]

The ss machined staple is a great idea. The addition of perturbations is not to improve tone, but to improve tuning. He has done particularly well in this and has been working on staple tuning for years.

[Fergmaun]

I got this reed on Tuesday 8 November 2011.

OAL was around 79mm with a head width around 13mm

How it sounded in my Andreas Rogge D chanter little to easy to play so squeak bridle a wee bit with pliers

Back or High D sharp. left reed until last night still a sharp high D so unbinded the reed and lenght the reed by moving staple out and rebinded reed.

OAL now around 81.85mm. The high D note correct and other notes also correct. Has a good crow off it.

Will need playing in before any adjustments to reed.

Cheers

Ferg

[Ted]

UP staples are more than twice as long as NSP or SSP staples. The heads are longer too. Perhaps the price difference is due to materials costs. One pipe maker claimed increased cost of ABW to be the reason for a price jump of thousands of dollars for a set.

[Ted]

Anyone tried one of these in a Rowsome copy or other large bore chanter?

[uillmann]

I have not seen these machined staples, but I am curious to know if they offer advantages to staples produced by other processes, for instance, swaging, spinning, or stretching, (or even rolling, as quaint as that technique might be viewed.)