[NSP] Re: reed making

[Alec]

While this thread is up and running I just wanted to say a big thank you to
Colin both for his book and allowing the videos to be posted on Youtube and
Richard and Anita for their web guide to reedmaking.  The scraping methods
shown have made a massive difference to my reeds in so far as I can now aim
for a good reed as opposed to just crossing my fingers!  

Reed yield has always been particularly depressing but I think they are now
on the up.  The side scrape technique was particularly helpful.  I still
didn't get that c# crow spot on but wasn't worried as it sounded great in a
'C' SSP chanter.

I hope these resources encourage more folks to have a go at reed making.
Just buy plenty of cane as it took me lots of practice attempts........

Cheers

Alec

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: 09 April 2007 16:40
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu
Subject: [NSP] Re: reed making

Dear Richard,
I was hoping you would come into the discussion. Anita's method is certainly
different in the initial stage of tying the cane on to the staple but I
think the main thing to be looked at is the rubbing down and final scrape
of the cane. I aim for a gradual thinning of the cane towards the tip with a
side scrape to bring in the tone. With Arhie Dagg he would go for a distinct
central scrape that would create a 'window' as he called it in the centre of
the reed when looked at against the light. This had the effect of giving a
kind of rich 'gazoo' type of tone that can be heard on Joe Hutton's pipes. I
have aimed for the clearer tone that Billy Pigg got from his reeds although
I must say I have not studied the making of Billy's reeds so I am not sure
how he acheived it. 
I know that Jack Armstrong scraped the sides of his reeds so there was no
skin left at the sides unlike Anne Sessoms reeds which do have skin left on
the sides.
I hope this gives a little more insight into the arcane art of reedmaking.
Colin
 
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu
Sent: Mon, 9 Apr 2007 11.48AM
Subject: [NSP] reed making



Julia said:
'To the best of my knowledge only Colin has written down his method.
Others regard theirs as trade secrets or have simply not got round to
it.'

Anita has an illustrated description of her method on our website:

http://www.evansweb.co.uk/pipes/reedmake/chant.htm

The biggest difference between her method and Colin's is that she works 
with dry cane. She makes it flexible when wrapping round the staple by 
heating the end of the staple using a camping stove. The heat is 
conducted up the staple and into the cane. This works very well.

Cheers
Richard

BTW, I have no idea how Archie Dagg made reeds, but I'd be very 
interested to know.
-- 
Richard Evans



To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html

--