Pipemaking advice, topics for discussion etc.

[Richard Evans]

I don't want to sound pushy, but I'm always happy to offer suggestions/advice/whatever, or just to swap notes (!) with other makers- is there anybody out there?

[pipemakermike]

Hi Richard

I am here. Currently busy making 40 off G drone reeds. The plastic tongues work just as well as the carbon ones so that is a really goo thing and will save me a lot of time. I plan to do some more pitch/pressure data gathering. If you can think of any other areas that would benefit from a data gathering & spreadsheet approach I will try any that I can.

[Richard Heard]

Hi Richard, Hi Mike,
I'm here, too, but with a very different level of experience. I'm currently installing and commissioning a Myford ML7 (early model from 1949) in a workshop area in my garage. I've never used a lathe before, and once it's wired up (using both an emergency stop switch and a no-volt start switch with an overload cut-out) I'll be starting to make shavings & swarf, and practicing turning in the hope of eventually being able to reduce pieces of wood to something approaching a planned shape.

I have access to Mike's info on his website, and to Richard's reed-making info on his website, and to other info on the web. I have a fair bit of printed material (C&B of course, and various reed-making publications; Holtzappfel on turning and manipulation and Sparey's 'Amateur Lathe' and other 'classic' publications, but I have a lot to learn about translating that sort of instructional information into real practical operations.

I'm fortunate in being able to talk to skilled people in my locality but I'd also like to be able to learn things from you chaps on this forum, so my thanks for the offer in your recent emails.

I'll remind people at the next 'pipe-makers' co-operative' meeting (at St Mary's Heritage Centre in Gateshead) about this forum.

Cheers,
Richard

[Tim Rolls]

I'm working at the same level as Richard Heard, I have little theoretical knowledge, mainly gleaned from the generous souls around who have more, and precious little practical experience. So far I've turned a piece of ready bored blackwood to a 7 key outline, and wanting to run before I can walk I thought I'd look at hole positions. I had a look at Mike's site, his dimensions are for an F chanter, and I'm looking for F'n'a bit. I measured the Burleigh chanter I have, and as expected, the holes are closer up than the F one. I measured up the holes on another chanter by a different maker, Henry Knox of Shilbottle, and there are small but noticeable differences. Cox and Bryan, the copy I have, isn't 1:1 so I'll need to get the calculator out. The C & B on the NPS website has dimensions indicated on the Dunn chanter, which is 5/32 bore, and whilst different, they're not consistently different. Measurements tend to be from the shoulder, but the shoulder may not bear any particular relationship to the position of the reed, Mike appears to show a parallel reed socket, my burleigh set is conical. Hole distances are given to the centre of the holes, but many holes are elliptical, and undercut. Is it the topmost edge of the hole that determines the pitch, or the internal break in the tube which undercutting suggests it is?

I seem to remember that, I think, Malcolm Sergeant did some work comparing hole positions.

Discuss.

[pipemakermike]

I have found that I can get a Burleigh f+ set to play at concert f and one of my concert f sets to play at f+ by selecting an appropriate reed or tweaking the reed in the set. I would think that it would be possible to move the pitch by at least a quarter tone in either direction just with the reed.
The concert G set I made for Joe Hutton was really an F# chanter with a reed chosen to push the pitch up to concert G. This was to accommodate Joe's wider fingers that had precluded his playing a normal concert G (or at least the spacing used by Colin at the time). I have found that the more the reed needs to push the pitch up the harder it is to find a good sounding reed. When I was reeding Joe's chanter I killed a lot of reeds - they get nearly up to the correct pitch and just a final clip of the blade and they are in tune but with at least one of the top notes sounding very strange and false.

I would be interested to compare hole spacings with other makers. The spacing I use is basically the one that Colin gave me in 1980. I have made a couple of small changes (lifted the bottom D a fraction) but basically unchanged. I have been thinking for some time that I should liase with Richard Evans and bring my dimensions into line with his as it is likely that he (or rather Anita) will be the main source of reeds in the future.

Another change I am planning to make is to swap the bottom D# with the bottom C# as this gives a better ratio between the pivot, the touchpiece and the pad.

[Richard Evans]

I started back in the late 1970s using C and B but with chanter spacing supplied by Colin ( I think, the evening class was run by Maurice Sterrie but I think he relied on Colin for some technical advice). When Mike's book came out in the 1980s I started using Mike's scale ( I was making a very small number of sets, maybe one 7 key set per year). Over the years I have tweaked that scale a bit- I always found high B to be flat for some reason- but I am still pretty close.
You can't really go wrong if you use Mike's scale. You get F+ with reed adjustment as Mike has said.

[andymay]

quote="pipemakermike"]I I have been thinking for some time that I should liase with Richard Evans and bring my dimensions into line with his as it is likely that he (or rather Anita) will be the main source of reeds in the future.

[quote="Richard Evans"]I When Mike's book came out in the 1980s I started using Mike's scale (
You can't really go wrong if you use Mike's scale.

Get a room, dudes.....

A

[GrahamRB]

[pipemakermike]

Sadly we are nearly 250 miles apart but it is good to know that we both are using similar scales and that they can be traced back to Colin in the 1980's I have wondered but not dared to ask if Colin is still using the same measurements.
What dimensions are you using Andy?

[Julia Say]

I have a spreadsheet I prepared recently, giving measurements from all the flavours of F-ish chanter I had access to at the time (or diagrams with the values on)

Unfortunately the forum won't allow me to attach an xls extension, or I'd post it. If someone can find a way round that, I'll do so.

Julia