Chanter Reeds

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I have spent a lot of time and money buying chanter reeds, and a lot of them just weren’t that great. Many of the older recordings on this site were done with older reeds resurrected from my past piping life simply because I couldn’t get a decent set of new chanter reeds. There is much talk of what chanter reeds best suit what chanters. Rubbish! Find a good reed with no flaws, and it’ll work in any chanter. Similarly, there are lots of praises for ridge cut reeds. Well, no thanks, if I drank tea it wouldn’t be my cup.

In the last year or so I’ve had the pleasure of playing Gilmour reeds. They are FANTASTIC! There are only 2 problems with Gilmour reeds. 1. Gilmour must be left handed because the hemp supplied with the reed is wrapped backwards. Maybe it’s just because he is from Australia and I’m on the wrong side of the equator. 2. The hemp isn’t waxed and is very springy. Okay, so there’s nothing wrong with the reeds, you just hafta take the hemp off, wax it, and then put it back on the right (clockwise) way.

Recently, after much bugging Shawn Husk on bookFace, I’ve had the chance to play a few Husk reeds. They are similarly fantastic when settled, and a new batch on the way should be more my strength and should settle a bit better for me in the pipe. Even better, the hemp is wrapped the right way and it’s waxed. Ta da! Shawn Husk is about to start selling (October 1st launch date, Edit: okay Shawn has pushed it back to November 1st because he thinks he can make them even better, I’m not convinced but I certainly don’t mind him trying!) what is probably the finest, and most consistent, chanter reed on the market today. Of the 4 I ordered, they are all identical. No really. I also hear a ridge cut is in the works from Shawn, which while it does lessen my opinion of him just a smidge, I’m kidding of course, if anybody can make one that isn’t blown out in a couple hours, it’d be Shawn.

So, stop mucking about trying the find the reed whose flaws don’t manifest themselves in your chanter and go buy some real reeds that will work in any chanter. May Gilmour continue to prosper and Husk dominate the NA market. Good on ya!

Small Reels and SSRR on Naill ABW + Husk chanter reed

Great Highland Bagpipe Solo

Not much to say here except I underestimated by blowing strength. I asked Shawn Husk to send me some reeds in the low 30’s of inches of water and it turns out I need some about mid 30’s, so the reed is a little light, but I enjoyed playing the tunes on it regardless. The chanter is a new (to me) african blackwood Naill that I’ve undercut B, C, D (but taped), and F (but taped). The drones are my 1950’s Henderson’s with Canning bass and (Naill) Rocket tenors (their respective counterparts are in my friend’s 1950’s Robertson’s). Recording is in a walk-in closet with a Zoom H2 so it’s a little chanter heavy, but hopefully not too much. Below are the raw recordings, un-normalized nor trimmed for length. First a selection of 2 parted reels played twice through (often they are too short but with such great melodies they should be played twice!) and then a competition SSRR. Enjoy!

Swallow’s Tail, Rakish Paddy, Gravel Walk, Sleepy Maggie x 2, Dancing Feet

I’ll note that I might have trimmed the high A in the first part of Dancing Feet a wee bit having just now looked at the sheet music and also, according to Scots Guards, I played Sleepy Maggie backwards (sort of), but I learned the two different key versions separately. ???

Susan MacLeod, Shepherd’s Crook, Bessie McIntyre, Miss Proud

Well, it wasn’t perfect, but it never is. Oh well…