Believe it or not, Shawn Husk has steadily improved his reeds over the last month or so. I’ve had the chance to play 3 versions, which I’ve named 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. The reason for major release numbers is that each reed was different. 2.0 was a little longer than 1.0 and 3.0 has a little ridge on it. Anyways, his 2.0 matched the best reeds I’ve ever gotten to play. His 3.0 is a real cracker though! Popped it in the SOS chanter in the Gellaitry pipes in the bedroom and away we go:
Newmarket House and Hen’s March
Next, I wanted to test the Husk 3.0’s pitch, so it went in the Gael. After a suitable warm-up, I had it a 466 Hz. That’s with the reed pushed in a little and the high A taped to sharpen some middle notes up to the low A. I also realized the chanter timbre I was hearing on the “Pipers’ Controversy” album was in fact just a bunch of chanters with flatter pitches. I had to add hemp to my tenor reeds and the tenor tops were still almost falling off! The rest of the recordings were done in the walk-in closet as the kiddos had gone to sleep. The remaining also played on the 1950’s Henderson’s.
Newmarket House and Paddy’s Leather Breeches
Well, you’re probably tired of hearing Newmarket House but I’ve got a competition coming up and I still need to get the parts straight. So here I’ve moved on to the Kyo with my band reed (Gilmour with a corner missing) followed by the Husk 3.0. We’re tuning around 485 Hz as a band, with the Husk 3.0 it came down a bit to 482-3 Hz or so (I have to guess because the analog tuner only goes to 480 Hz, so I have to roughly convert cents to hertz).
Newmarket House and Glasgow Police Pipers with Gilmour reed
Newmarket House and Alan MacPherson Of Mosspark with Husk 3.0 reed