Hello Anthony, I hesitate to disagree here since your suggestion is made in a spirit of generosity.
However, I'm not sure it's best to suggest using inferior reeds as an aid to learning. Reeds that function very well carry a great deal of information. Poor reeds do not. An expert reed-maker may perhaps be able to take reeds that "aren't really there" and improve them. A beginner is likely to make them a lot worse without really understanding why. There are plenty of resources available for anyone who wants to learn about all this. Good reeds are obtainable and even though they will differ remarkably from maker to maker they are all in themselves instructive. Well-written and clear information is to be found from several sources. There's Colin's reed-making book and Richard and Anita Evans's web pages: http://www.evansbagpipes.co.uk/pipes/reedmake/chant.htm With a good reed in hand as an example, together with any of the available instructions, and with the advantage of a robust frustration-tolerance threshold, anyone can make a bunch of reeds. At the beginning, most will be awful and one or two may be "not really there". With a lot of luck, there may even be a good one. This is similar to the 'infinite number of monkeys & infinite supply of reed-cane' approach though with much better chance of success. I can't see why it shouldn't work. Best wishes, Francis On 9 Jul 2010, at 09:58, Anthony Robb wrote: > > Neil, > I feel a bit guilty about this. My regular piping class participants > snapped up the first dozen or so. In fact one of them got one of them > working at Billy Pigg type tone and pitch but as we play at A = 446 Hz > it wasn't a runner as far as lessons were concerned. I have one or two > that I'd be happy to send if you send me your address. Perhaps other > would be recipients could post their addresses on the list for other > reed makers to respond to in turn? > As aye > Anthony > > --- On Fri, 9/7/10, neihutch...@yahoo.com <neihutch...@yahoo.com> > wrote: > > From: neihutch...@yahoo.com <neihutch...@yahoo.com> > Subject: [NSP] Reeds > To: "Dartmouth NPS" <nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu> > Date: Friday, 9 July, 2010, 2:59 > > I posted a question about reeds a while back and got some great > answers. Anthony Robb > suggested that "perhaps we should start a free bank of working reeds > that > "aren't really there" for enthusiastic, would-be makers to mess > around > with?". > Does anyone out there have any such reeds available? I'd like to try > my > hand at reed making in the not too distant future and would be > grateful > for any "wonky" reeds that anyone could send me to have a go > scraping, > trimming etc. > I'm in Australia - Neil > --- On Fri, 19/3/10, Anthony Robb <[1]anth...@robbpipes.com> wrote: > From: Anthony Robb <[2]anth...@robbpipes.com> > Subject: [NSP] Reeds > To: "Dartmouth NPS" <[3]...@cs.dartmouth.edu> > Received: Friday, 19 March, 2010, 7:02 AM > Francis wood wrote: > Unwelcome squeaking can arise from many causes (including mice in > the > bag, though I'm not qualified to advise on a solution to that > one) > and > it takes a good amount of experience to determine what is really > wrong. > What should an isolated beginner do in such circumstances? > Hello Francis, I know the feeling. 6 months after getting my set > from > Bill Hedworth I found myself alone in the Birmingham area > (Sutton > Coldfield) and stuck for any adivice on reeds. There were no > professional makers whatsoever in those days but I'd made contact > with > Bob Reid who posted me 6 chanter reeds (I think about a quid > each) > and I set to work wrecking them and getting to know what not to > do! > At > that time Finbar Furey lived in Coventry and we got together a > few > times and he made me a copy of one of Bob's reeds but the Irish > seem > to > go for softer cane which didn't really have the tone I wanted. > No amount of watching or getting advice can match first-hand > tweaking and after getting through about -L-120 worth of reeds at > today's money I had learned a lot and was reasonably proficient > and > setting reeds (thank you Colin Ross!) to suit my pipes. When I > came > to > make my own first reed (used in her F set by Carole on Cut & Dry > Dolly) > I didn't have a gouge so made the slip by patiently sanding from > the > flat cane on sandpaper drawing-pinned to a bit of broom-shank > (not > recommended but showed tenacity)! > These days I snap lifeless reeds to stop me wasting time on them. > Perhaps we should start a free bank of working reeds that > "aren't really there" for enthusiastic, would-be makers to mess > around > with? > As aye > Anthony > -- > To get on or off this list see list information at > [1][4]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > -- > References > 1. [5]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- > > References > > 1. http://uk.mc5.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=anth...@robbpipes.com > 2. http://uk.mc5.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=anth...@robbpipes.com > 3. http://uk.mc5.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=...@cs.dartmouth.edu > 4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 5. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
