Adrian Jefferies reeds

[johnnyalpha]

Hi all,

I have a half set of Adrian Jefferies pipes made c.2004, which I acquired a couple of years after that minus a working reed. I have had no luck getting a reed made here in Australia (the chanter design is apparently problematic?) and Adrian himself seems to have moved back to Ireland and dropped off the radar. Does anyone know if he still makes pipes and/or reeds, and if so, how he can be contacted?
Any suggestions much appreciated! - Johnny

[dunnp]

Here is a video posted a while ago by Dick Glasgow (chiff member Ptarmigan).

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=1PDeeOzE ... ELIU&gl=GB

I would try to shoot Ptarmigan a pm to see if he is in contact with Adrian.

[omarapiping]

What state are you in? Jack Brennan in SA is pretty handy with the reeds.
There are some board members in QLD making pipes, Ausdag.

All the best,
Liam

[amckay]

I have a full set by AJ and seen another 3 or 4 sets over the years. Each chanter design has been different as witnessed by putting my (good) chanter reed into these chanters and it ranging from some notes out of tune to completely useless.

A while ago I visited Ian Mackenzie and noticed he had one of AJ's chanters lying around. He mentioned that it was highly problematic to reed and that he thought the issue might be in the chanter design. Ian is a pretty damn good reed maker too....

Your best bet is to contact Adrian and see if he can take a look at it.

[madfortrad]

HI

I have made quite a lot of reeds for Adrian Jeffries pipes. I have always found them to be quite stable and very easy to reed. The tone and tuning in particular were excellent. The youtube link that dunnp posted is actually one of my reeds and it was not in the least problematic.

If you forward me your e-mail address i will pass it on to Adrian and i'm sure he'll come up with a soloution for you

Regards

[johnnyalpha]

Thanks for your responses all!

@amckay: That AJ chanter lying around that he said was highly problematic? It was mine. I left it with Ian for the better part of two years and he had no luck with it unfortunately. That makes me wonder if it's even possible to reed it properly!

@madfortrad: That's encouraging and thanks for the offer... I've pm'd you and if you could pass it on I'd be very grateful.

[ausdag]

What state are you in? Jack Brennan in SA is pretty handy with the reeds.
There are some board members in QLD making pipes, Ausdag.

All the best,
Liam

Although I now make my own chanters of a different design which I am very happy with, I have a very early Jefferies chanter (1990) which is much closer to a Rowsome. It is very easy to reed and tolerates a wide variety of reed dimensions of rolled staples or tubing staples. My current reed made with un-flared tubing staple blows very, very, easily all the way to 3rd octave D and E, and well in tune over the 2 octaves, Soft and Hard D in tune (no sharpening of Hard D compared to soft D) but only if you are content with it playing at well above Concert pitch of A=440, otherwise a rush is in order rather than trying to get the reed to play lower, which will cause problems. But I think that is par for the course for most Rowsome-based chanters. Can't speak for his later designs. Other than that, Adrian came over to my place last year and made a very rudimentary reed for his own chanter (of a later design I believe, but it is the chanter he's playing in the video posted by Dunnp), and although loud (prior to fine scraping), played well in tune as well.

This is me playing my Jefferies chanter, with rush, on my reed of un-flared tubing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8at9Tg61 ... bw&index=8

[madfortrad]

Adrian came over to my place last year and made a very rudimentary reed for his own chanter (of a later design I believe, but it is the chanter he's playing in the video posted by Dunnp), and although loud (prior to fine scraping), played well in tune as well.

While Jaff may have made a reed while with you last year Ausdag I know that it is my reed he is playing in that chanter. It has only just recently been replaced after 3 solid years of playing

Cheers

madfortrad

[ausdag]

I was referring to the chanter, not the reed, in the video.

[madfortrad]

Sorry Ausdag I should "reed" better the next time

Great sound of yours in the youtube clip

Cheers

[ausdag]

Thanks Madfortrad