I had a chance to meet the man that makes those reeds in NC last week while at the NAAPD camp. He taught one of the classes I was in. I use his original practice chanter reed and I ended up buying two of his pipe chanter reeds as well. The man is an awesome dude who can play like crazy.
This guy is a lifesaver (in terms of Bagpipe playing) The sandpaper trick running the plastic reed along 2/3rds of an emery boards for nails 8-10 times as demoed really works. Thanks for the idea. My reeds went from unplayable (hard to blow) to perfect. BTW I know less that 1% of this guy on Bagpipes, but I did carefully trim the end of one of my reeds with scissors when I first started and totally botched it (a right off). Beware.
I just purchased two Abbott blue wrap reeds. And they were very difficult to play. But after watching this video,,,,, they aren’t any more. As usual great advice and guidance! Thanks Matt
I am looking to replace the reed in my RG Hardie long poly practice chanter and I think I'm going to give the Abbott reeds a try. As always thanks for the great information.
I use a Gibson pc, but Gibson reeds. I will have to try an Abbott now. I'm a newbie, and didn't realize you could sand plastic reeds. Great video. A lot of useful information!
The Frazer reeds are definitely easier to blow, but you can work an Abbott down to that playing strength if you so desire. WHat's harder to do is a get a Frazer reed to be harder to blow...
I love the fraisers, family dosent complane as much lol .. ,walsh purple I've got 2 and they sound like I drilled more holes in my pc lmao.. kinnaird green has been good to me but they occasionally lock shut on a quick tap of E (I put a fine thread in and play ,and a few days later I can pull the thread and it lasts for months ) Sand paper is measured by #of particles in a square inch,similar to the method of gauging needles and shotguns..
Nice comparisons! I like the traditional Abbott reed in my Gibson ABW PC, but my overall favorite has to be my Boyd reed which, unfortunately, isn't being made any more...
So, for those of us without your know-how or skills to modify our reeds, what would be your advice for two or three brands that might perform well "out of the box" in a long poly PC? In my case that would be a Dunbar, but generally speaking. One that would be an "easy" blow but not super easy to overblow (You know, THE perfect reed 😄) Great series. Just stumbled onto it. Looking forward to going through the videos in more detail
But I show you how to sand and modify your reeds in this very video! :) As for which brand, each make of practice chanter responds differently to different reeds... No one answer unfortunately.
@@MattWillisBagpiper oh yes, and thank you for that Construction, I just don't trust myself to do it with positive results without ruining a reed. But I guess that comes with practice. Again, great series. 👍 I look forward to reviewing more of them
A few issues there... One, you couldn't really see it (at least, not on a set of pipes). Second, the pipes are not in a concert key, so the tuner would have to allow you to custom input the chanters frequency. And third, the pipes in in their own temperament (close to Just Intonation, but the G is different), so you'd also need to be able to alter the temperament...
Matt I really learned alot from your videos just started lesson I have a RG Hardie poly twist trap and my reed always cuts out im a heavy breather /blower was looking online and these reeds came up for heavy blowers along w your video which reed do u suggest. Any info will be appreciated
An Abbott or Gibson reed would make the chanter take more air, but at the cost of its tuning. I would try and figure out how to more precisely control your blowing if possible. Control is always a good thing to develop!
Are you picking the pc at A=440? As pipers I believe we spend way too little time ensuring pc’s are properly set up and pitched correctly and maintained. A good player spends as much time on the pc as on pipes (maybe more) and we still tend to treat it like a weak sister. You might find a video outlining proper set up and care very receptive by your audience.
It depends on the practice chanter. Some pitch closer to 440, and others are closer to B♭ (466Hz). In any case, I don't typically bother with getting it to a concert pitch (as that's all relatively arbitrary anyway) and instead try to make the chanter in time with itself (low A and high A in particular). As for tuning other notes, it depends how far off they are. It's difficult to flatten a note more than a few cents using tape on a practice chanter, as the holes are small and often chamfered and I don't want to cover the whole hole... But yes, as much as possible, I try to set up my pc and my students' pcs to be in tune.
Can you tel me if a practice chanter reed like this ones, can fit and be in tune, in a Canter made of plastic, for a Folck pipe?, I mean, can I play the Folckpipe normaly in tune, if I put one of this reeds in the Chanter of the pipe...?, my Mc Callum Folck pipe chanter, makes some sound like a ghoose...... in the middle of every melody i play on it.... sem like the air does not arrive in the same easure from the top to the bottom of the chanter..... but I know is not like that.
When buying my pettigrew pettigrew pipes, shop owner replaced a large bag with a small, after measuring my arm length. Is this normal? Bag was same company as the large.
I've heard of this method of bag sizing, but it's not how I do it. To be honest, there isn't one great metric for bag sizing. The length of your arms, your height, how big around you are at the chest... They all affect the size needed in different ways.
I've been playing since May of '96, so a bit over 24 years now. If your reed is cutting out, you're likely overblowing it and these Abbott may be a better fit for you.
Good question! I think it has more to do with finding a reed that suits your practice chanter. Pros and beginners use the same reeds, the biggest difference is a pro knows which reed goes well in their practice chanter. I often recommend folks get a few different brands and try them and see what works best!
I use iStroboSoft for tuning my practice chanter, but it only has the proper sweetener pack available for iOS (iPhone and iPad). Not sure what I'd use on an Android...
@@MattWillisBagpiper Thank you so much, very helpful, sorry to have so many questions, but what do you think is the best overall practice chanter reed, I am not sure what to buy.
It's a poly Piper's choice. I've tried several different reeds but to no avail. I started playing about 8 months ago. And a little discouraged on how difficult it is to blow.
It's a poly Piper's choice. I've tried several different reeds but to no avail. I started playing about 8 months ago. And a little discouraged on how difficult it is to blow.
