Any pointers while making my first pc?

[longwind]

Been making a bunch of stuff on the wood lathe. Got the center bore and exterior of my first practice chanter turned. Any pointers before I set out to drill the holes? I'm going by the chanter that I have which doesn't sound bad. It's a learning experience and kind of nifty. Doesn't look bad so far. Any secrets to improve the tone?

[Ken Gordon]

Make certain that the hole diameters and spacings are correct.

I made my PC out of ABW back in 1978 or so. I still have it. I copied the dimensions of a good-sounding Hardie that had been loaned to me.

My PC sounds quite good.

Choose your reed carefully.

[FDpiper]

Pay attention to wall thickness as this will affect pitch. If you are copying a chanter you now use , be sure to tune it with the same reed. I would recommend trying a couple of maple versions first and then go for it with a good piece of tone-wood. I've made 20 or so, but it took a couple to get something I was really proud of. While you're working things out you can also be working towards your personal style so that the chanter is more uniquely yours.

Good Luck

Jeff

[TwitchyFingers]

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I usually drill my tone holes before turning the chanter profile. The blank rests easier in the V-block that way.

[Ken Gordon]

Originally Posted by TwitchyFingers

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I usually drill my tone holes before turning the chanter profile. The blank rests easier in the V-block that way.

That would work, as long as you know that the wall-thickness at each hole is critical, as is the distance from the center of each hole to both ends.

What I did, was to drill the length-wise hole in the square blank first, then use the ends of that to center the piece. I did not have a self-centering gun-barrel bit, so I "turned" the body around that hole.

I cannot now remember the exact sequence of steps, but it seems to me that I then laid out the positions of the various finger holes in relation to one another, leaving extra material at both ends.

Then, as you do, I drilled the finger holes. After that, I carefully turned the main part down so that the wall thicknesses at each hole were correct. I cannot remember for certain, but I believe I had a taper-attachment for the South Bend lathe I was using.

I then turned the upper end with its "knob", and adjusted the length from the reed socket to the first (hi-A) hole by milling off material from around the reed socket in small steps until hi-A was the correct pitch.

Lastly, after making the top and adding its imitation ivory ferrule, I adjusted the length (cut off or ground off) the bottom, from the bottom to the low-A hole so that it was neither flat nor sharp, but was in the proper pitch.

Then turned the bottom section so I could install an imitation ivory sole I had bought from some piping supply company.

[FDpiper]

Drill you tone holes undersized. This will make them sound flat. You can install the reed and enlarge them incrementally untill you have the pitch you need.

Jeff

[Robin Beck]

Best to practice on old table legs.

[Seth]

Originally Posted by Robin Beck

Best to practice on old table legs.

I used to practice on cheap 1 1/4" Walnut or Cherry dowel rods many moons ago.

[Don Robertson]

Make sure your drills are really sharp.

Also, I can't imagine wall thickness making a difference with a practice chanter though. I could be wrong, it's just a thought.

[Smjprogrammer]

Originally Posted by TwitchyFingers

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I usually drill my tone holes before turning the chanter profile. The blank rests easier in the V-block that way.

Gibson does the samething.