I recently acquired a set of (probably 1960s) Sinclair bagpipes.

I mouth blew all my drone reeds and decided that a regular Ezeedrone bass or a short, inverted Ezeedrone bass was best. Many other bass drone reeds were muted. This set would be a small bore Sinclair set, I believe. Apparently early Sinclairs and maybe now modern Sinclairs have bigger bores in places, but with a bass bottom bore at 8 mm I think this set falls in line with the smaller bore pattern attributed to their age. Many tenor reeds had the opposite problem of being too bold. So I settled on a lovely set of Rockets until they wouldn’t sound regardless of bridle position once I added a chanter, so then I just went with straight Ezeedrone tenors.

In the recordings below, we’ve got the original Sinclair chanter paired with a Gilmour reed I’ve been playing for years that’s still too hard for me. It tunes right at Bb (low A = 466 Hz). I put tape on high G and D, and the B is flat, with the F sometimes flat. Short, inverted Ezeedrone bass and regular Ezeedrone tenor reeds. I thought the sound was good although the tenors lacked a little sparkle, in my opinion.

King of Laois and The Thornton jig

Neili’s and Ger the Rigger – POLKAS!!!

Pressed for Time, The High Drive, and The Big Yin – hornypipe type things

Troy’s Wedding, The Snuff Wife, and Thief of Lochaber

After a conversation with Stuart on the bookface (someone who also recently picked up a set of Sinclairs), he floated the idea of using Selbie tenors so I figured, why not? The redwood sounded a bit bold as did the Kinnaird but perhaps a plastic tongue vibrant reed would spruce up the tenors without making them too loud. (Thinking about it, I might try Canning next as they’re a bit bolder than Ezeedrone as well.) I mouth blew the Selbie tenors again and was pleasantly surprised so I went with it. Still using the short, inverted Ezeedrone bass but now with a 480 Hz Colin Kyo chanter.

Aires de Pontevedra, Muineira de Casu, Kittly Lie Over, Leisa McCord (EJ Jones), Rory Gallagher (Gordon Duncan) – this is quickly becoming my international jig set

I then decided I might play a slow air but I couldn’t help from getting the felling that there was some instability in the bass. So, I did something I never thought I would ever do. I reached for the Redwood bass drone reed to put it in. When I was mouth blowing the reeds it was one of the best sounding bass drone reeds, but in every other pipe I’ve tried this reed in, it isn’t very good. Primarily, it has a hard time starting. Well, in this pipe I think it sounds pretty darn glorious paired with the Selbie tenors which makes my favorite combo so far.

Fair Maid and Donella Beaton – let’s see how many times I can make the same mistake twice

Bessie McIntyre, Captain Lachlan MacPhail of Tiree, and Alick C MacGregor

Lastly, I figured I put the Redwood tenors in there to go with the bass, but ultimately I think the Redwood tenors are too bold.

Mo Ghile Mear, The Herring Wife, and Rakes of Kildare

Angus MacKinnon and Frank Thompson – the BBQ set (Angus Frank)

Which is your favorite?

I have had several inquiries about what drone reeds to use in Naill pipes as of late. The answer, I don’t know. There’s a guy in my band who plays Naills and has good tone with Crozier Carbon tenor reeds (original, not V2) and a polycarbonate non-inverted Canning bass reed. The Croziers are quite buzzy in the tenors as to be expected but it works well and generates a full sound. The buzziness is most apparent to me because I’m the drone tuner! From a few feet away it’s actually quite pleasant. I have 3 of these polycarbonate Canning bass reeds and they’re all just a tad different. I’ve noticed small differences in Canning tenor reeds before, so consistency seems to be an issue although Cannings are a good reed I regularly recommend.

I’ve been real fond of Redwood tenor reeds as of late so I told him to try them with a Kinnaird original bass. I believe Kinnairds to have a higher level of consistency and general appeal over the polycarbonate Canning bass and so I was hoping it would work well as it does in so many Henderson based pipes. The Redwood tenors were a go, but the Kinnaird bass, not so much. I found it difficult to hear the beating of the bass and the tuning point seemed to be very narrow, with little room for error. The tuning changed between when I was moving the drone on the pin versus on my shoulder which is a situation that doesn’t work. So we put the polycarbonate Canning bass reed back in and while better, I still wasn’t satisfied with the ease of tuning the bass. My first criteria for which bass reed to use is “can I tune it?” Second, “does it blend well with the tenors?” If in a band setting, “does it strike in reliably?” That’s about it really. So, I grabbed a favorite Rocket bass of mine, an Atherton spec one. Ahhhhh, the tone is glorious, as can be heard below (still with Redwood tenors). Unfortunately, while the Redwood tenors are commercially available, not sure how to get my hands on more of these Rockets reliably. We need to test another couple bass reeds. I’m thinking Crozier Glass will be a good fit, but we shall see!

Fair Maid and Troy’s Wedding – Listen to that F (and B)!

Old Chanter and Rakes of Kildare – I’m still working on holding the Es in the 3rd part of Old Chanter.