Author:
Brian MacColl
[Edit]
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Date Posted: 14:33:58 04/16/02 Tue
Some clarifications/questions first.
1. When you say "Slowly dies away" do you mean the tone deteriorates or the volume drops off?
2. When you say, "doesn't last very long at all" do you mean the reed life is short, or the length of each practice/performance with this reed?
3. What type of chanter are you plugging the reeds into?
4. Is too much moisture getting to your chanter reed?
5. Were your reeds "pre-scraped" by this dealer?
Some dealers are shipping reeds that they claim are set for your particular chanter and have been tested and adjusted by them. Absolute nonsense! Why would you want someone adjusting your reed, then mailing it to you in a box. You could put a couple of weeks into breaking in a reed just to find out it doesn't blossom the way you've hoped it would. It's a lot of skill and some luck to have a reed really come in superbly, scraping it down and licking the hell out of it just so it sounds good for today and then throwing it in a mailbox is not the way to do it. Your reeds may have fallen victim to this type of short-term manipulation.
I only ask number 3 because based on your chanter there are far better reeds on the market than a Soutar, and I stress, depending on your chanter. Right off the bat without knowing any answers, I'd say you need to get a reed that has more meat around the staple. Not a harder reed, but a reed where more material is present. It seems your reed is giving up after 30 or 40 hours of life, that's when most reeds begin to settle down and break in, letting the true tone out.
Soutars are known for being rather "thin" when it comes the material used, which makes them great reeds for students and beginners until they move on to something of more substance as they gain experience. You probably have graduated along to a higher level of reeds.
Brian
>When I'm playing my GHBs, my chanter reed's sound
>somewhat "dissolves" or dies slowly only after about
>thirty minutes worth of playing. It starts off decent
>and then slowly "fades" away. I have about 30 to 40
>hours of playing time on this reed. I also have
>another reed of the same brand(Soutar/med)and same age
>and it does similar things when I play. When I bought
>these reeds the dealer in which I bought them from
>said that I would not have to scrape them much if at
>all, so I left them alone and at first they sounded
>awesome and would last for about 2-3 hours of playing
>and now they still sound okay but they don't last very
>long at all. Can someone please shed some light on
>this for me???????
>
>Thanks!!!!
>
>Eric
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