"blowing out" a chanter reed

[jlove]

Ladies and gents,

Just got my new 4-drone Sloan SSP in A last Friday and I'm just tickled with it, BUT...is it possible to have "blown out" the chanter reed already by applying too much pressure (in an unsteady fashion, of course)?

The deal is that the pipe seems to be requiring way too much pressure to get the high A in tune with the low A. This seems worse now than when the pipes arrived Friday. I've played them at least a little bit every day since Friday, but have never really put in any marathon sessions with them (nothing over about 20-30 minutes).

If it is possible that erratic excessive pressure has caused this problem - is it just that the reed may have "opened," as referred to in Sloan's guide? If so, can I expect to minimize or correct this problem by "closing" the chanter reed slightly by squeezing near the bridle?

Thanks to anyone who can offer some advice!

Jon

[Ian Lawther]

You say that it is the tuning of the high A compared with the low A - or is it generally getting flatter as you go up the scale. If this is the case pushing the reed in further would help, thereby sharpening the upper notes. I know that when I got my Sloan G NSP chanter the post office had managed to rattle the reed loose and it needed repositioning (much to Ray's dispeasure as it turned out he had spent some time getting it beautifully set up for me!).

It may also be that the climatic differences between Wark and Pittsbugh have affected it and again reed adjustment should cure it.

But whatever the cause you should not have to vary pressure to keep in tune.

Ian

[jlove]

Ian,

Thanks for the comments. The reed was down well in its seat. Actually, after some more fiddling last night, it appears to be just a matter of this pipe requiring slightly more pressure than I perhaps was expecting. If I keep the pressure up a bit over the whole scale, it seems to sound decent over the whole range. I'll experiment a bit with some of the alternate fingerings available, too, to optimize intonation. Climate change is undoubtedly contributing, as well.

More than anything, I just need time to adjust to use of the bellows. I realized last night that (unlike with my GHB), I actually want to allow my bag to deplete a fair amount before the next pump with the bellows so that the air I'm pumping has somewhere to go. With the GHB, I try to keep the bag more full all the time so it doesn't require any huge breaths all at once.

Thanks again,
JL

PS To all: if I make any glaringly incorrect comments as I'm learning how to play this new SSP, feel free to set me straight!