Selecting a reed
Drone reeds are made from lengths of tube cane, which are cut just past
the node. The area within the node is pithy and porous and must be
correctly sealed off with sealing wax. (If the wax doesn’t completely
cover the end it can be melted further by using a match or lighter.)
The tongue of the reed should be clean and free from any loose pieces
of cane. Any stray pieces of cane or faults along the split to the
tongue will impede the performance of the reed and may cause a leak.
Any small slivers of cane can be carefully removed with a blade. Next
test for airtightness. Put the reed in your mouth and blow. Whilst
blowing pass a finger over the open end so that the tongue stops
vibrating and closes. This must be an immediate stop with no sound of
air leaking from the reed whatsoever. It is also important to ensure
that the split on the tongue goes up to or just beyond the bridle. If
it doesn’t, pull the bridle back towards the open end of the reed and
pull the tongue up so that the split reaches the bridle. The bridle can
now be put back to its original position and the reed can be tested in
the pipes.
When testing tenor reeds set the drone so that the top section of the drone is about 1/8th in. or 3 mm. above the bottom of the sliding hemp joint on the pin. When testing the bass set the top section joint the same as the tenor and the bottom about two inches or 50 mm. up the pin from the projecting mount. Place the reed firmly in the reed seat making sure there is enough waxed hemp on it to make a firm seal. Now blow the reed in the drone. It should produce a rough gurgling sound that will change as the pressure increases to the warm rich sound you would expect to hear. This won’t always happen when you first try a reed. It will have undergone some changes since leaving the reedmakers bench and may need some adjustment.
Trouble shooting
Reed too weak to play
Reeds often close up in transit. If the reed is too weak pull the bridle back towards the open end of the reed. Now gently pull the tongue of the reed up at about its mid section to increase the gap between the reed body and tongue. This is known as ‘springing’ the reed. The reed should be ‘sprung’ by a small amount at first, increasing if tnecessary. Now pull the bridle back to where it was and test the reed again. It should work correctly now but may not be the right pitch. This can be adjusted by moving the bridle (away from the drone to sharpen and towards to flatten), and the depth of the reed in the reed seat, (further in to sharpen and further out to flatten).
Reed won’t vibrate but just clicks shut
This can be caused by the tip of the tongue catching on the body of the reed. Take a small round file and carefully file around the inside of the tip of the tongue without breaking through the top surface. If the top edge is compromised the reed will leak and have to be discarded. Once this has been done you may need to strengthen the reed as above.
Reed squeals
There can be more than one cause of this problem:
a/ The bridle is too tight. Re-tie the bridle a little looser and test again (there are instructions for tying bridles later).
b/ The tongue is too heavy. It may be that the tongue has too much cane
on it and needs to be made lighter in order for it to vibrate freely.
This is similar to a chanter reed that is tight and won’t vibrate
properly. Take a round file and file away some cane from the inside of
the reed. This can be carried out from either the open end of the reed,
holding the tongue down as it is filed or by sliding the bridle back
and gently lifting the tongue so that the filing can be carried out
directly on the underside of the tongue. It is important to not remove
any material from the hard outer shell of the reed as this gives it its
vibrancy and tone and resists moisture.
c/ The tongue of the reed is curved too far up or curves up away from the main body of the reed suddenly rather than evenly. This can be easily cured by moving the bridle back towards the open end of the reed, lifting the tongue and sliding under it a small piece of folded paper under the point at which the tongue is too curved (see diagram). Pressure can now be applied to the top of the tongue with the thumb and it can be bent back the other way. The bridle can now be pulled back to its previous position and the reed re-tested.
Reed sounds rough and is unstable
There could be two explanations for this.
a/ It may be that the reed has been sprung too far open. This can be remedied by pulling the bridle back toward the open end of the reed, holding the tongue open either with fingers or with a piece of folded paper and bending the tongue back towards the main body of the reed. This is the same technique as used if the reed is squealing but the point at which the paper is placed must be as close to the bridle as possible.
b/ The bridle has been tied too loosely and must be re-tied with the correct pressure.
Tying a bridle
The importance of proper bridle tying cannot be overstressed. The bridle acts as a
stop for the vibrations running down the tongue, which is the mechanism by which the
sound is produced. This must be an efficient definite stop. If the bridle has been tied
too loosely the effect of the vibration will effectively be "dampened’ and will not
provide the crisp warm sound that is required. Also because the length of the tongue
determines the pitch of the reed if the vibrations do not end at a specific point the pitch
will tend to vary easily with slight changes in pressure. If the bridle is overly tight the
reed can squeal as mentioned previously. Tying a bridle must be done with either wax
or rosined hemp or an equivalent material that is resistant to moisture. It must have
resistance to moisture as a bridle tied with dry hemp will tighten up as the pipes are
played causing changes in the sound of the drone.
It is important to be aware that unlike plastic reeds cane needs a certain amount of moisture getting to it in order to function properly. If played through a modern bag with a moisture control system which dries the air out too much some problems with stopping can be experienced. If this is the case try to allow more moist air through to the reeds.
It is easy to fall into the trap of only concentrating on the sound of the chanter and being content with the drone sound so long as they work and stay in tune with the chanter. This can result in the pipes being made up of two separate instruments, a drone sound and a chanter sound. When set up correctly the drones and chanter should blend together and compliment each other to produce a fully integrated sound.