CP: A Guide to Reed Making for the Uilleann Pipes

[madfortrad]

Hi all

My new book "A Guide to Reedmaking for the Uilleann Pipes", is now available to purchase online via Na Piobairi Uilleann

http://store.pipers.ie/store/category/9/83/Reed-Guide/

Regards

Paddy

[Steve Turner]

Ordered a copy....looking forward to reading this

[madfortrad]

There was a small issue with the postage costs on the NPU online store, this issue has now been resolved.

Thanks for the heads up PJ

Regards

Paddy

[madfortrad]

The book is also available at

http://banbadesign.co.uk/shop/catalog/s ... hop_param=
Along with a host of reedmaking tools and supplies

Regards

Paddy

[tritaffy]

£7.50 seems a bit steep for p+p me aul mucka . I sent a 3/4 set in a case next day delivery with £2500 insurance for £25 !!!

[madfortrad]

Hi Mei

Cost of postage includes protective parcelling, weight of package and insurance, which covers both parties against damage or loss, amounts to £7.50.
If you can suggest a cheaper soloution I would welcome suggestions.

Regards and thanks for your query

Patrick

[Brian Lee]

Any chance of an e version in pdf or something? Far easier access for those across the pond, and I would have to think cheaper to distribute as well...meaning more bucks for NPU.

Maybe?

[madfortrad]

Hi Brian

As regards to an e vesrion of the book, it has been thought of but at this time it is not really an option. The point of this book is for people to sit with it opened in front of them while at the reed bench making reeds. Therefore I am relectant to release an e version. Secondly, with an e version it would be very hard to protect the copyright on such an item. It would not be very fair for someone to pay for an e version and then ebeyone else just taking a copy. So again for that reason I have decided against it at this time.

Finally , as you may be aware there are only currently only 3 publictaions readily available on the subject of reed making for the uilleann pipes ( 4 now ) I think its nice to have someting tangible that can be read through and peroused at ones leisure. I though it was time for a new addition to go along with the masterful work of David Quinn, Pat Sky, Tim Britton and Dave Hegarty.

If you purchase the book I hpe that you do enjoy it and find some useful information on reedmaking contained within.
I 'm happy to say that the feedback so far has been excellent.

The book is available to purchase from NPU, Banba Design and from me Directly

Many thank and happy reed making

Regards

Paddy

[madfortrad]

Hope to see some of you at the Belfast Tional this weekend in An Droichead Saturday 9th March ,

Rumour has it there may be a new reed making book for sale

Cheers

[madfortrad]

Great night at the Belfast tionol with Gay McKeon and Ciaran MacFheilimidh. Great piping and piping talk thanks to all who came along for the launch of my book also.

[bobkeenan]

I am a beginning pipe player and an even more of a newbie to reed making. But I think I have read almost every document that you can see or download on the internet and have bought Brittons, Quinn's and now O'hares book. And I am now repeatably making working reeds for my chanter. Keeping that all in mind, here is what I thought about the book that Just got yesterday and have already read cover to cover.

1. Its the newest and nicest book on reedmaking that I have ever seen.
2. Its chock full of nice color photographs. Although I wish some were better close-ups.
3. If you have never made reeds before than this has got it all and is explained very well. Although looking at the reed making videos on na piobairi uilleann will help.
4. If you have made reeds for years its likely that you will know all of this stuff but O'hare does do a few things that I (with my vast 8 weeks of reedmaking behind me) had not seen before and I will try them out. I also suppose that even if you are a veteran reedmaker that you may still find it interesting to see how O'hare does his reeds.

As for criticisms.... only 2.

1. He only shows how to make a tubing staple. I know that Britton took the same approach but I have had some difficulty making tubing staples work for my chanter. But every rolled staple has worked. I am suspecting that my tubing problem is connected with my Brad Angus throat that is only around 4mm or. But I sort of wished he would have added a chapter on rolled staples.
2. There are several areas were he references one of his photos but in many cases the photo is not close enough. I know know what he is referencing but a total beginner may miss the point. A good Macro lens would fix that.

What does he do differently that I do..... and that I will try next.

1. He uses a straight chisel a lot to get the to the final size before gouging..... I gouge till I get there. His method seems faster.
2. He gets the slip down to around 1/2 (12.7mm) width before gouging. It would seem to me that with gouging and sanding after that you would be wearing the edges down so at the finish your width would be < 1/2". But what do I know. And I will try this
3. I pre-scrape before cutting the slip in half but he has a unique way of doing it....and I really want to try it.
4. I will try his tube staple method with his dimensions but I am not sure if it will work with my chanter.
5. He gouges for the staple but I have found that while that gouging reduces the risk of split cane during the winding.... it also reduces the air volume in the reed and that may be why my staple gouged reeds dont see to work as well..... but again I will try this.

So in summary. A nice book, great resource for a beginner, and there may be techniques in here that experience reedmakers have not seen.

[madfortrad]

Hi Bob

Thank you for your kind words regarding the book. Let me try to explain some of the reasoning behind your two points of criticism.

With regards to the rolled staple. I choose not to include a section on this because the fact is that a vast majority of pipes been played today are able to be reeded up perfectly well with tube type staples. Rolling staples is a great skill but it is not as necessary as it once was and therefore the beginning reedmaker may not need to do it just yet, hence they can spend their time practicing the techniques of gouging, scraping and measuring. However the more you advance and perhaps start making reeds for others, it may be worth while learning and practicing this technique.

I am suspecting that my tubing problem is connected with my Brad Angus throat that is only around 4mm

What is the pitch of your chanter with this throat diameter. 4mm seems very very narrow for a concert pitch wide bore chanter. I would suggest you try the narrower tube type of staple that has an O.D of 5/32. This will help a great deal. I believe you alluded to this on a previous post . 3/16 Tubing will NOT make a suitable staple for a chanter with a throat of this diameter.

Regarding the close up shots. The photos referenced are meant as a guide only and not meant to be seen as an absolute. Therefore I decided not to have those shots as extreme close-ups. If I had said the reed MUST look EXCATLY like those in the photograph, many potential good reeds could have been scrapped because they were not identical to the photograph. You will notice that when things do need to be that precise the photo is very close up. I suspect you are talking about the photos that show the cane slip being gouged before sanding on the cylinder. These photos are eant to show that a rough cresent is formed.
When you read the text I make it clear that it is the final sanding that governs the shape of the inside of the slip.

Regarding what I do differently .... well thats a different story that is far too long to explain on this board. I hope that you do find some of the techniques useful and that your reedmaking improves. Suffice to that the method I have documented will produce very good stable in tune reeds with practice. Everbody has a different approach. The main thing is the end result and how the thing plays.

Many regards and happy reed making

Patrick

[bobkeenan]

Thanks for the added info. I understand. I have some smaller tubing so I will try that. And it's a d concert set but the throat is smaller than typical concert d's. I also have a vignoles concert d and its throat is around 5.2mm. I did notice that the tubing reeds worked with that chanter.

But one other question.... On your method of getting down to 12.7 mm before you gouge. Can you really gouge and sand after that and not reduce the width?

[mke_mick]

But one other question.... On your method of getting down to 12.7 mm before you gouge. Can you really gouge and sand after that and not reduce the width?

I'll play. Since nearly all pipe/reed-makers provide their recommended reed-slip dimensions for the finished slip instead of the pre-gouged/trimmed slip, it's an important question.

Imagine you're about to split a tube of cane for a desired final width of X. Imagine that the cane's wall has a thickness of Y (i.e., the pith under the bark is roughly Y deep). In order to cut a slip, you're going to make two radial cuts, that are X apart at Y/3 rather than at the bark, i.e., a third of the way up through the pith (where each cut is made with the blade pointing towards the center of the tube).

Anyhow, that's my method. I think many people assume you're supposed to measure initial slip width from "bark to bark," but as you observe, that leaves no room for trimming, sanding, etc. The "Y/3" method leaves me enough of a "slop factor" to allow for trimming, sanding, etc., along the sides, without wasting very much cane.

Cheers,
Mick

[bobkeenan]

But one other question.... On your method of getting down to 12.7 mm before you gouge. Can you really gouge and sand after that and not reduce the width?

I'll play. Since nearly all pipe/reed-makers provide their recommended reed-slip dimensions for the finished slip instead of the pre-gouged/trimmed slip, it's an important question.

Imagine you're about to split a tube of cane for a desired final width of X. Imagine that the cane's wall has a thickness of Y (i.e., the pith under the bark is roughly Y deep). In order to cut a slip, you're going to make two radial cuts, that are X apart at Y/3 rather than at the bark, i.e., a third of the way up through the pith (where each cut is made with the blade pointing towards the center of the tube).

Anyhow, that's my method. I think many people assume you're supposed to measure initial slip width from "bark to bark," but as you observe, that leaves no room for trimming, sanding, etc. The "Y/3" method leaves me enough of a "slop factor" to allow for trimming, sanding, etc., along the sides, without wasting very much cane.

Cheers,
Mick

Thanks... that is what I did previously only I did not get so quantitive about it. I basically left a little "fat" on either side of the 1/2" for final sanding and for overstepping on the gouge on the edges.

I am starting a reed using O'hares method and maybe because of my gouge or the way I am using it I did lose a little on the width so now I am more like 12mm wide rather than his recommended 12.7. But that's ok I think because while Brad Angus sold me a "concert pitch" D chanter, the throat is around 4 mm so in some ways it may be more like a flat D chanter and according to O'hare flat reeds are narrower. Also, as his posting recommended to me, I am using a smaller brass tubing staple. In Tim Brittons kit he provides two sizes of brass tubing and two separate staple mandrels for each size. So I was ready.

So this is all a big experiment for me. I have made about 4 reeds in a row that are all very playable, the way I play (like crap), using Brad's mandrel and copying his reed sizes. So this will be interesting using O'hare's techniques.

More to come as I finish this reed. BTW.... I would be practicing today like I should be but my wife has her regular Women's dominoes game and my playing (two rooms away) can sometimes offend their sensibilities.