Dear Dave and the list, I think that you are dead right about how making the reeds for the Irish, or in my case the Border pipe, gives more insight into the nature of the beast as you have to adapt the technique you have learnt for the small pipe reed to suit the taper bore to produce a reed that will work for this dofferent chanter. You can then clearly see what the main characteristic is for each reed. >From your point of view you clearly found it necessary to make a particular >reed for each chanter you made with your particular hole spacing and to get >the sound you wanted. Whereas for myself in following the Reid pattern in hole >spacings and bore diameter I found I could manage with the basic two inch reed >for the range of northumbrian and Scottish small pipe chanters without in my >opinion compromising the tone or volume for each chanter. It also had the >advantage that one reed covered the range with of course the exceoption of the >concert pitch G NSP chanter which meant I had to shorten the reed down to one >and three quarter inches and aim for a squeak of D# instead of my C# for the >other reeds. The 'crow' is of course the break in sound that you get more with >the tapered reed for the Irish and Border pipe reed. The break in sound with >the small pipe reed is not a rasping 'crow ' but a higher squeak of about a >third interval that I liken to a 'seagull' sound. Cheers, Colin -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, 9 Apr 2007 10.51PM Subject: [NSP] Re: c# crow
Hi all, My G reed crows with a sharp c#. My F with a flat B , and as I also make a D reed for my D chanter and as a tenor shuttle drone reed, that crows with a flat B flat. As an aside my A chanter was designed for an F reed but obstinately prefers an E reed to produce the best tone. The biggest reed I make is a Bass shuttle reed, 48 x 18mm approx . I think it crows around G . The funny thing is that after more than 30 years of reedmaking experience I've learned more about them in the last few years through making Irish pipe reeds. The important relationships between bore sizes reed sizes and also stock sizes all come to the fore in this discipline. I feel that the fact remains however that the grounding in smallpipe reedmaking is as important to be able to both ask and answer the pertinent design questions. My smallpipe reeds are now improved as a result. Dunn and Reid each made both types of pipe and their instruments are second to none. Would a symposium on reedmaking do any good? I doubt it. On the odd occasion I've given people detailed intruction for a chanter and reed combination they inevitably come back with some crazy piece of kit where all the advice has been ignored. Why didn't you follow the instructions? Oh, I didn't think it mattered. Colins G chanter and reed is different from mine, but that's because we're like finches on different Galapagos islands. What we do and what we have are a product of our separate evolution in our own musical worlds. To promote a standard in reed and chanter design would be a terrible loss. Was there ever a standard fiddle? All the best, Dave Dave Shaw Maker of Northumbrian Smallpipes, Scottish Smallpipes, Shuttlepipes, Irish Pipes and SHAW Whistles www.daveshaw.co.uk To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --
