And just to throw another q out there....what is the effect, if any, of minor warping of wooden chanter/drones?
Paul Dublin On Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 10:32 AM, Dave Shaw <[1][email protected]> wrote: I was under the impression that if cavities get carved inside a bore (not just pin-pricks of drill points) with the cavity around the sound hole area, it will reduce the pitch of that particular note to a slight extent in the bottom octave (and more so in the second octave, which is out of scope for NSP), so it may save a chanter fill and re-drill operation by "spooning" in the bore around the hole (let's say a bottom E that is too high). In an Irish chanter bore if you enlarge the bore round a tone hole, the first octave sharpens and the second octave flattens. Getting the right balance in the octaves is one of the great pleasures of making Irish chanters. I find the right balance when the second octave is a few cycles sharp of the first, so it will be in tune with the drones at the slighly higher pressure. Reids Irish chanters mostly seem made to a pitch about 7mm short of modern concert D at 582mm (approx),(15-20 cents sharp) but I have measured several made at an apparent pitch length 7mm longer than modern concert. So that would be 15-20cents flat of modern pitch. I don't think I' measured two the same. Hole positions, body lengths and bores are all different. John Dunns Irish chanters seem to show much more assured work. I think Reid must have had considerable hands on reed fudging skills and may have been able to reed his pipes, of both kinds, over an adequate range for his customers requirements. Just remember that concertinas were available from Wheatstones, right up to the 1950s, in five different pitches. Cheers Dave Dave Shaw, Northumbrian and Scottish Smallpipes, Irish Pipes and SHAW Whistles [2]www.daveshaw.co.uk To get on or off this list see list information at [3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:[email protected] 2. http://www.daveshaw.co.uk/ 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
