eureka moments in reedmaking

ttoberer · Post by **ttoberer** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 8:37 am

has anyone out there had any moment where they had a deep insight into what they where either doing wrong or right with there reedmaking? Eureka, Eureka I have found it! I have found it! I have never had a breakthrough moment but here are some small things that equal a big thing in my mind. I found that by using a larger sanding cylinder (75 mm miight try 80 or larger) , working the slip down to .039 and shortening and shallowing the scrape (which I had been butchering) the reeds are much more promising much earlier. the scrape seems to be a big problem area and I found that by using sandpaper to start the V and a sharp knife to refine the V this part is a little less scary. I also started tapering, smoothing the side of the reed more from the tail which seems to make a much tighter less likely to leak reed. also switching to a strip bridle with the extra little loop on the back has helped with finicky bridle placement, I found it extremely difficult to adjust the regular style full wrap strip bridles, I may try 22 ga wire.I also make one reed at a time and if it doesnt work early it goes in the pile I started saving instead of dismalnteling for future study or voodoo ritual. I also now have a little straight clipper( tree branch) that makes snipping ends a breeze. I have been waiting for a real breakthrough moment for a long long time or a really good reed that was made very purposefully and repeatable. I thought hearing about other peoples breakthroughs might give me and other struggling reedmakers some help. If I ever figure this out, you can bet my whole neighborhood is going to hear about it! Tim

nemethmik · Post by **nemethmik** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:38 am

Making a working reed is quite easy, just follow any method and you can learn it in a day. But, making a reed that has a nonbreaking, in-tune back D and non-sharp first octave E is (nearly) impossible to learn.

ttoberer · Post by **ttoberer** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 9:16 am

so what about having an in tune easily attainable second octave? and a non gurgling bottom d as well easy hard d that is also nearly in tune? these are my biggest problem areas, the e's and back d are always fun also. so anyone planning reedmaking classes out there simply cancel them because reedmaking is "quite easy" simply follow the directions.

I will admit alot of the troubles I was having early on could have been avoided by very carefully following several of the good printed methods, but other methods are simply misleading and there are many things which must be learned the hard way. I believe there are many things good reedmakers do without thinking or are so subtle that they would be hard to describe in a printed method. my main problem early was also that I kept making the same mistakes over and over so ive had mini eureka moments. another one I forgot to mention was finally getting some good pieces of cane. my first 20 or so reeds were made from very poor cane, twisted and rock hard and would not play hardly at all.

Brazenkane · Post by **Brazenkane** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:30 am

I've been making reeds for some years now. Everytime I make a working reed (which included today!)I have a eureka moment where I think," wow, a working reed! how strange ?!?!"

PJ · Post by PJ » Wed Jun 11, 2008 5:02 am

A few months back I made myself a template for shaping the cane slip. Since then, my results are much more consistent. Not really a eureka moment but a significant advance for me.

Also, I discovered that for me slips with a width of 1.25 mm produce better reeds than slips of 1.50 mm.

nemethmik · Post by **nemethmik** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:04 am

PJ wrote:a template for shaping the cane slip

Is this a metal shooting board with exactly 11 mm length?
If it is not a secret how it looks like and how it works?
Miki

PJ · Post by PJ » Wed Jun 11, 2008 9:02 am

nemethmik wrote:
PJ wrote:a template for shaping the cane slip
Is this a metal shooting board with exactly 11 mm length?
If it is not a secret how it looks like and how it works?
Miki

I cut small piece of 1mm thick aluminiun (which had falled off my roof during the winter). I started cutting it with metal snips but got it down to the final width (12 mm) with sandpaper. I made two nicks on either side with a triangular file to mark the centre. In total, it took about an hour.

I'll post a photo of it this evening.

Edited to add:

Here's a photo of the template. It's 120mm long and 12mm wide. It's slightly curved to fit the inside of the cane slip. There are groves to mark the midpoint

BadPiper · Post by **BadPiper** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 2:16 pm

[quote][/quote]

Brazenkane · Post by **Brazenkane** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:41 am

Hear Hear! Good words.

btw-imho- not all collars work, and not all collars/bridles work in the same way.

there is no substitution for

a) good tution from an expereienced reed maker-get to Miltown for a week of this stuff, or the week that B. Koehler teaches...not sure where..., st. louis (if they have the 4+day reed workshop again), or any place where thereis a patient teacher to help and watch you work.

b) time "on the shooting block." learning tool-control, developing a feel for cane, learning when to ditch a reed that's only going to be headaches. this is not learned over night, just like you piping wasn't....so be patient w/your progress.

c) get your hands on quality info. NPU reed dvd, tim britton's latest edition book, davy stephenson's site, alan burton's site, quinn's book, hegarty's book, 'evertjan's site (sp?), david daye's site.

d) buy SHARP quality tools and supplies

this is not complete... butit'll have to do...

Brazenkane · Post by **Brazenkane** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:41 am

Hear Hear! Good words.

btw-imho- not all collars work, and not all collars/bridles work in the same way.

there is no substitution for

a) good tution from an expereienced reed maker-get to Miltown for a week of this stuff, or the week that B. Koehler teaches...not sure where..., st. louis (if they have the 4+day reed workshop again), or any place where thereis a patient teacher to help and watch you work.

b) time "on the shooting block." learning tool-control, developing a feel for cane, learning when to ditch a reed that's only going to be headaches. this is not learned over night, just like you piping wasn't....so be patient w/your progress.

c) get your hands on quality info. NPU reed dvd, tim britton's latest edition book, davy stephenson's site, alan burton's site, quinn's book, hegarty's book, 'evertjan's site (sp?), david daye's site.

d) buy SHARP quality tools and supplies

this is not complete... butit'll have to do...

ttoberer · Post by **ttoberer** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:12 pm

as for templates go I have a bunch and they are quickly made out of thicker plastic sheet from the hobby store. ( I have a bunch of thicknesses as I use for drone tongues also...)I have templates for 4in. slips, bottleneck and standard rowesome 4 1/2in. they all work to some degree, I havnt found a favorite style yet... I agree all bridle styles work fine, but for a beginner or an unknown chanter the adjustable loop type pictured on reedshaman page is easiest imo. Ive ruined reeds with standard bridles becuse thay are hard to get off if they get work hardened too much from over adjusting (which always happens in my case) . one thing I forgot to mention that has been tough learning is not to be that ridgid on the method you are using. this may sound like bad advice, but each peice of cane has its own personality. choice of sanding cylinder size is a little tough to figure out . generally if you want thinner slips around .039 you have to use a smaller cylinder maybe 2 to 2 1/2 in. I like to use the biiggest I can in order to keep the lips from being open too much, but using larger cylinders can make the sides too thin on smaller diameter cane 7/8 to 1 in. somtimes the center is way too think .060 and the sides are just right (not knife sharp), time to try a slightly smaller cylinder. so we are measuring and juggling these factors all the time. these details dont seems to be covered that well in the popular methods. here is another detail, sorry for rambling but this stuff is all important, when you split your slips from the cane, notice the cane is not perfectly round, split out the sections with the even curve and measure the slip curvature on a circle template. it will tell you the diameter of the cane and will vary within a single piece of cane somtimes the slip itself has changing diameter. this will also give you a clue as to what size cylinder to use. dont let this post scare anyone who wants to give this a shot, as pipers you need to learn this! you are missing out if you dont!!

ttoberer · Post by **ttoberer** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:03 am

another funny thing about reedmaking is somtimes somthing happens which makes you question everything you think youve learned so far. couple days ago I made a reed and decided to relax on the measurements a bit and just eyeballed it till the sides looked right while sanding the slip. I took a quick measurement of the center and it was still in the .060s. I made the reed anyway without worrying so much about the evenness of the center or the fact that it was on the thick side. long story short, its the best reed so far. somtimes its better to just relax.