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Reed Making Reeds are essential to the quality of that unique sound which only the uilleann pipes are capable of producing. If you are new to reed making DO NOT begin by experimenting with the reed inside the instrument that you practise on. As they say - ‘if it works, don’t fix it!’. Every reed maker will have their own method, materials and techniques for making reeds and the following method suits me. The 'numbers' are just a guide. I reckon reedmaking is a combination of Science and Art.
A METHOD FOR MAKING A CONCERT PITCH (A=440 Hz) UILLEANN PIPE CHANTER REED - Tools : Materials :
If you have difficulty in sourcing any of these tools or materials let me know and I will do my best to help you. Examine the tube of cane. You will notice that it doesn’t grow in perfect cylinders! We need to select a slip which is just wider than 13mm, has no twists and is not concave on the bark side. Having examined the cane slice through it carefully and remove the slip.
We only need the slip to be 100 mm long so use the hacksaw to select the best piece from the slip. Place the slip, bark side down, in the shooting board and use the gouge to take off equal amounts from inside the slip. Your aim is to achieve a uniform profile all along the slip as the following cross section illustrates.
We now want to check the width of the slip. Originally we cut the slip slightly more than 13mm wide to allow for error, however I now want to achieve a final, uniform width of 12.9 mm. Use the sand paper on a flat surface and alternate sanding each side of the slip. Remember to keep checking that the width of the slip along its length is consistent. Now, using the sanding cylinder remove any irregularities on the inside of the slip and aim for the sides of the reed slip to be, not razor sharp, but 0.5 mm thick (about the thickness of 5 sheets of standard copier paper). It is important to define the curvature and smoothness of the inside of the slip and this is achieved using the gouge skillfully and a few final strokes using the sanding cylinder.
Fashion the pointed ends of the reed slip, and then smooth the edges of the slip to create a nice boat shape. You now need to cut the slip in half along the mid point. Scrape away some of the bark to make this easier.
My method is to place the slip, bark side up, on a curved,smooth surface and use the knife* in a rocking motion in order to make the cut. Bind the two parts together. Do not use fine thread as this will cut into the cane. Chamfer the sides of the tails - this will allow the cane to form easily around the staple. Now to make the staple: It is good to roll your own staple as you will have more control over it's dimensions, but here is a method for using brass tubing. Take a 50 mm long piece of 3/16 ’’ brass tubing and insert the mandrel into it. By a process of tapping with a small hammer and/or using the pliers, manipulate the brass until it takes up its new shape.
Be particularly careful about forming the ‘eye’ of the staple. The inside height of the eye is 1.5 mm. Insert the staple approximately 17 mm into the reed head. Bind the staple to the reed head. Begin at the tails and work your way up a few millimetres beyond the staple and back down towards the tails. This will serve to fasten everything together and also acts as an air tight seal. If all has gone well, the reed should be air tight and there should be a definite eye shape formed on the open end of the reed head. Let the reed settle in this state before continuing. It is now important that you take equal amounts off each side of the reed head and that you make smaller scrapes as you move down the reed. Use sand paper to lengthen the 'V'. Keep the centre of the scrape strong especially at the lower half of the 'V'. You should be able to hear a definite ‘crow’ when you draw air swiftly through the staple - if not you need to scrape or sand some more. Check that the ‘crow’ sound is still there and that the reed is not requiring too much pressure to produce this sound. We can now take some of the copper sheeting and cut out a strip ( known as a bridle ) 26 mm by 4 mm using the tin shears. File off any sharp edges on the bridle. Using a spare piece of cane tubing, bend the copper strip around it. Now place the copper strip just above the bottom of the 'V' scrape and use the needle nosed pliers to bend each end around the reed. Keep an eye on the lips of the reed while you are fastening the bridle and make sure that they do not close over. A reed will take time to settle, so it is important to be patient. Let the reed setlle for at least another day before fine tuning. All that remains now is to fine tune the reed using a combination of scraping , sanding , adjusting the bridle, chopping , … The finished 'crow' sound of the reed will produce the note G # and on my chanters the reed is inserted approximately 20 mm into the throat of the chanter. All the best, and feel free to contact me if you have any further questions - Martin Crossin.
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