Hello,
I have a Moore cane chanter reed for my small pipes in "A", boxwood. The chanter is tuning 20-25 cents sharp. It is out as far as it will go. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I'm good with tools, however, want to make sure I'm on the right track!

Hi

If it's one of Hamish and Finn's reeds in one of their chanters I'd be amazed if it was that far out due to some problem of fabrication.

Presuming the whole kaboodle hasn't been sitting around in a shed or somewhere equally inclement for some time it is much more likely that the reasion everything is sounding out is down to the steadyness or otherwise of the pressure you are applying when playing. The chances are that you are overblowing the reed. It is also worth noting that a reed will pitch up a few cents as it warms up. A reed that sounds out will often start to play closer to true after a session of steady pressure play. Then is the time to give it a quick twist in the reed seat to pitch it up or down, not before.

Failling that give Hamish and Finn and shout directly for their advice. There are a few tips on their website for people whose pipes are subject to quite extreme temperatures and humidities that might apply.

As another quick pointer, korg tuners and such aren't particularly useful for pipes. They can cope with the root note and the drones, just about, but not the chanter scale.It's much better to have a pipe playing in tune with itself ie. with the drones tuned together accurately to the root note (Low A in your case) and a good octave to your high A, rather than getting hung up on achieving concert pitch. If you can get the pipes steady like this as you regulate the pressure you play with in those long hours of practice you will find it becomes easier to tune to concert pitch.

Hi - Hamish Moore here. The most likely problem is that the chanter reed has closed up a bit. Please see our web site on section describing how to open chanter reed.
If it is too closed then a slightly high blowing pressure will make it play sharp.
If you need any further help then please get in touch with us direct as we will give the best advice available. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Good luck. Hamish

hamish moore wrote:
...or you could always try this ^ !!!

Thanks Hamish! I will try the website section for sure. Thanks!
Hello to Fin!