I expect they could. I am curious to know whether you intend to rework a reed of your own making, or do you propose to alter someone else's creation? They might like to be consulted.
First law of Piping: FIND ANOTHER PIPER TO SHOW YOU HOW OR GO TO A TIONOL AND SEEK ADVICE!!
2nd law of piping: NEVER ALTER YOUR REED UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!! And then do it on one that doesn't work so well so you haven't screwed up the ONLY REED THAT WORKS IN YOUR CHANTER!
This is the one instrument you can not learn by yourself...well, except for a tuba and that's another thread.
Look for the Pat Sky or Denis Brooks books on how to do it all. Move the reed up or down to flatten/sharpen. Adjust the bridle so the reed lips stays open.
Listen to your back D, it will be sharp most likely. So tape half the hole to flatten it. Then listen to the C#, it will be flat. Go drink a martini and start over the next night. Raise the reed a bit to flatten the back D, etc, and repeat. All the while wondering if your bottom D and A are in tune. ARGG
Add a rush ( an 1/8 inch market twist tie, formed in a Vee) by pushing the pointy end into the chanter bore. That will help your bottom hard D sound correct.
This should take up the first 7 years.
Spend 7 more years listening and 7 years playing and you'll be a piper. Oh and 7 years on the wait list for your pipe maker to finish the set you really want.
Simple
Sounds like trying to cross an ocean in a rusty ship which keeps springing leaks everywhere. You run back and forth taping and plugging holes and sticking pieces of metal everywhere. Finally though, the ship begins to gracefully nose-dive beneath the surface. You hang off the funnel alarm continuously in the bridge-house as you accelerate towards the surface. Just as the funnel dips beneath the surface, the sound should be almost a perfect back D.
That’s the secret.
(Take up the banjo as well, so you can at least play a tune in the first seven years!)
It might be an exageration to say that your experience as a beginning piper will be something like a fever dream, but not too much of an exageration. It's up to you, what luck you have in finding a teacher, and your perseverance from here on in.
Thanks for replies they are all appreciated - I am a little more advanced than some have assumed - I pick the brains of every piper I meet in this subject.I am sure I am not the only piper who has trouble getting egnough information on this.
I started playing the highland pipes fifty years ago. They used to talk about the 'search for the Perfect Reed', which I think is hidden behind the Pot of Gold. I used to save up until I had enough for a new reed, about once a year, which took a month to blow in and a another to ruin. After thirty years of this I was at a competion, and saw one of the Scots Guards sorting out a reed for himself from a tea-chest full which they were issued with.. A tea-chest is a box about a meter cube. I bought a set of Uillean pipes thinking it would be easier. A little bit off here, a bit there. Three sets of pipes later...
Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
Can the experts give a resume on altering the reed & taping the chanter
# Posted on October 17th 2008 by black
Re: Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
I expect they could. I am curious to know whether you intend to rework a reed of your own making, or do you propose to alter someone else's creation? They might like to be consulted.
# Posted on October 17th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
Dear black,
First law of Piping: FIND ANOTHER PIPER TO SHOW YOU HOW OR GO TO A TIONOL AND SEEK ADVICE!!
2nd law of piping: NEVER ALTER YOUR REED UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!! And then do it on one that doesn't work so well so you haven't screwed up the ONLY REED THAT WORKS IN YOUR CHANTER!
This is the one instrument you can not learn by yourself...well, except for a tuba and that's another thread.
Look for the Pat Sky or Denis Brooks books on how to do it all. Move the reed up or down to flatten/sharpen. Adjust the bridle so the reed lips stays open.
Listen to your back D, it will be sharp most likely. So tape half the hole to flatten it. Then listen to the C#, it will be flat. Go drink a martini and start over the next night. Raise the reed a bit to flatten the back D, etc, and repeat. All the while wondering if your bottom D and A are in tune. ARGG
Add a rush ( an 1/8 inch market twist tie, formed in a Vee) by pushing the pointy end into the chanter bore. That will help your bottom hard D sound correct.
This should take up the first 7 years.
Spend 7 more years listening and 7 years playing and you'll be a piper. Oh and 7 years on the wait list for your pipe maker to finish the set you really want.
Simple
# Posted on October 17th 2008 by I_Fel
Re: Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
PS...There are Australian pipers...go seek them on the Chiff and Fipple site
# Posted on October 17th 2008 by I_Fel
Re: Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
Sounds like trying to cross an ocean in a rusty ship which keeps springing leaks everywhere. You run back and forth taping and plugging holes and sticking pieces of metal everywhere. Finally though, the ship begins to gracefully nose-dive beneath the surface. You hang off the funnel alarm continuously in the bridge-house as you accelerate towards the surface. Just as the funnel dips beneath the surface, the sound should be almost a perfect back D.
That’s the secret.
(Take up the banjo as well, so you can at least play a tune in the first seven years!)
# Posted on October 17th 2008 by Duijera Dubh
Re: Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
Did I mention drones and regulators yet??
# Posted on October 17th 2008 by I_Fel
Re: Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
It might be an exageration to say that your experience as a beginning piper will be something like a fever dream, but not too much of an exageration. It's up to you, what luck you have in finding a teacher, and your perseverance from here on in.
# Posted on October 17th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
Thanks for replies they are all appreciated - I am a little more advanced than some have assumed - I pick the brains of every piper I meet in this subject.I am sure I am not the only piper who has trouble getting egnough information on this.
# Posted on October 17th 2008 by black
Re: Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
I found this advice from Patrick Sky pretty useful...
http://www.patricksky.com/Files/reedadjust.pdf
# Posted on October 17th 2008 by bogman
Re: Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
Nice metaphor, DD. Welcome to my world.
# Posted on October 17th 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
I started playing the highland pipes fifty years ago. They used to talk about the 'search for the Perfect Reed', which I think is hidden behind the Pot of Gold. I used to save up until I had enough for a new reed, about once a year, which took a month to blow in and a another to ruin. After thirty years of this I was at a competion, and saw one of the Scots Guards sorting out a reed for himself from a tea-chest full which they were issued with.. A tea-chest is a box about a meter cube. I bought a set of Uillean pipes thinking it would be easier. A little bit off here, a bit there. Three sets of pipes later...
# Posted on October 17th 2008 by gam
Re: Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
Reminds me of the old one liner:
what's the difference between a lawnmower and a set of uilleann pipes?
You can tune a lawnmower.
# Posted on October 17th 2008 by Seosamh Ui Sinan
Re: Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
Thank you bogman I have been looking for that information for years
# Posted on October 18th 2008 by black
Re: Tuning uilleann pipes chanter
Pipes are kinda in D, more or less
Something a self respecting fiddle player can tune to.
Not even thinking about flat sets!
# Posted on October 18th 2008 by I_Fel