Elder Drone Reeds.

[Nanohedron]

...and the bark is usefull in medicines.

To what degree I am unaware, but I'm sure it has such uses; in general, though, it should be borne in mind that the seeds, leaves and bark are toxic if ingested, and most particularly the roots. I read somewhere that one root can kill a pig. The wood itself is harmless, but the berries should be cooked.

[m4malious]

Here's the old thread - viewtopic.php?t=36644&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I "imported" a few twigs here to Sydney about 20 years ago and the resulting bush is now huge - and fecund.
But, perhaps due to climate or nutrient differences its impossible to cut a tongue when dry and hard - just too tough
and woody.

So, all done when green and dried out on bamboo skewers with a wrap of cotton to stop too much torsion.

M

[benhall.1]

...and the bark is usefull in medicines.

To what degree I am unaware, but I'm sure it has such uses; in general, though, it should be borne in mind that the seeds, leaves and bark are toxic if ingested, and most particularly the roots. I read somewhere that one root can kill a pig. The wood itself is harmless, but the berries should be cooked.

It's a most useful tree. Use the flowers to make elderflower champagne in Spring and the berries to make elderberry wine in autumn. Cordials are good too. I've never made pies with the fruit, but they're supposed to be good.

Lots of other uses too.

[Mr.Gumby]

perhaps it could be possible to cut the tongue whilst the wood is still green ( and soft) which would be a lot easier, then insert the rod and wait for further seasoning ?

Ken McLeod advocated cutting the tongue (and tying it down) before drying, in his writings for the SRS (or maybe in his e-mails to the SRS membership)

[tommykleen]

Ennischanter: if you live east of the Rockies, I would recommend S. canadensis. Of the two eastern N. American elders this is supposed to be the better for reeds. It has the black berries, whereas the other has the red.

The European elders are much woodier than the N. American species.

t

[Brazenkane]

Peter Hunter was an expert with elder reeds. It was he who introduced me to the idea, and taught me much about them. Making the bass drone (for me) is the most difficult. As mentioned earlier, once I got it working, it was dependable and sounded lovely. I had once not played the set for a year or so, straped them on, and on the drones went, not an issue.

[ennischanter]

Ennischanter: if you live east of the Rockies, I would recommend S. canadensis. Of the two eastern N. American elders this is supposed to be the better for reeds. It has the black berries, whereas the other has the red.

The European elders are much woodier than the N. American species.

t

I am a little far from them, but only a couple hours. Maybe one of these days I'll take a look!

[Kevin L. Rietmann]

Geoff: I meant 6" long, 1/8" diameter. 6" wide, that'd be good for drilling out an old style beer flagon. Funny thing but just last night I was having some tunes with people including two ladies who just happen to work at the local rare and unusual hardware store and remembered to ask them if they had any long metric drill bits, which they don't. What I'd like there would be something like 3x125mm I think. Slightly under 1/8" in that instance.

Agree with you all the way about watching your fingers, I've always used the single edged razor blade. That fellow making the pibcorn reed was really making me nervous the way he had that X-Acto knife directed right at his hand; he had a huge wart of some sort on his right thumb, maybe he'd lanced himself recently...

Was curious about him sanding down the tongue with a piece of 180 grit, too. That's the insides of the tongue I'm talking about. Had the sound off so wasn't sure what he was trying to do there. I've never even bothered with taking glasspaper grades to the insides of these things, 600 grit etc.

There's a whole raft of Sambucus spp. S. cerulea and S. racemosa are blue and red varieties, respectively, those grow in Western North America - in the wild. I should mention the obvious fact that in the 21st century you have gardeners growing everything everywhere, your local gardening club well may have members growing elder in their backyards. I picked a few stems from one lady who had a shrub of S. nigra - I think.

[meuritt]

Is there anyone making elder reeds for sale?

Mike

[BzzzzT]

I know with elder gaida reeds they are often greased with "loj," and is the the rendered fat from around a lamb's kidneys. You can also use beef tallow, the fat around the ribs. You can melt it down over low heat and pour it into a handy container.

You treat the reed when it starts to sound dry. It also makes the reed play easier and resist humidity. You rub it into the reed , then wipe the excess off. I had a 60+ year old elder reed from a kaba gaida that I bought. The gaida previously belonged to a musician who passed away. The reed was deep brown from the loj, but it still played fine, even after all those years of playing. I wonder if treating elder reeds with fat was part of the tradition. This may be a component in their traditional use.

All the elder reeds I have are cut at an angle.


- Jason

[tompipes]

Anyone use pear twigs for drone reeds?
I've a pear tree in the back yard. I might cut a few twigs and see what happens.

Tommy

[Kevin L. Rietmann]

Anything straight and free of nodes and with a wide enough pith is fair game, but I don't remember pear having any of those qualities, really. Some twigs look like they'd work but just don't machine properly, bigleaf maple can have huge straight twigs with enormous insides that you could make highland pipe reeds out of, but all it does when you try to cut it is shatter.

Thanks for that bit of info, Jason. Will have to mess around with treating elder now.

[Lorenzo]

Celtis Occidentalis (Hackberry) sounds like it would work quite well in bagpipes--in the western world anyway.

[Nanohedron]

Raspberry canes?

[ennischanter]

Raspberry canes?

We've got some raspberry in our backyard, it feels abit brittle though.