Shepherd SM/90 Drone Reeds (In Stock)
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$65.00Shipping Weight:
0.20 poundsShepherd SM/90 Drone Reeds these reeds are the next generation Of Shepherd plastic drone reeds. They have a better tone than the Original Shepherd Drone Reeds, and have a telescopic adjustment to allow for optimum tuning for you drones. They are sold as a set 2 tenors and 1 bass. They are easy to set up and do not require any playing in time.
How do I the set-up Shepherd SM90 Drone Reeds?
1. A Drone Reed must take
only enough air to make it sound while the pipe chanter is being played.
Put corks in the middle tenor, and the bass drone. Move the bridle of
the outside tenor drone reed down to shorten the tongue enough so that when you
sound the chanter the drone stops. Now move the bridle up to lengthen the tongue
(move it just a hair) and sound the chanter again. Have patience; continue this
process of moving the bridle in infinitesimal steps until you can sound the
chanter and play the scale without the drone shutting off. (Do not try to play a
tune at this point). Now cork the outside tenor and open the middle tenor and
repeat the process until the middle tenor sounds as you play the scale. Finally,
repeat the process with the bass drone reed . The next step is to make
sure that all three of the drone reeds are taking the same amount of air.
2. All three Drone Reeds must take the same amount of air pressure.
Remove the pipe chanter and put a cork in the chanter stock.
Inflate the pipe bag and do the best you can to tune the drones. Now increase
the air pressure in the bag. If all three drone reeds are taking an equal amount
of air, all three drones will stop (shut off) at the exact same time. If one
drone stops, then another then another, the drone reeds are all taking different
amounts of air to sound. You won't be able to tune a bagpipe properly if all the
drones take different amounts of air. The Drone that shut off first is the one
using the least amount of air, so shorten the bridle on the others until you can
increase the pressure on the pipe bag and all three of the drones shut off
together. Your Drone Reeds are now taking the correct amount of air in order to
sound.
Question: Gerry, I followed all the steps in setting up
the Drone Reeds and I can play up and down the scale no problem, but when I play
a tune the drones stop; should I open up the drone reed bridles some more?
Answer: No! Don't touch those bridles; you are suffering from
unsteady blowingor the clinical term "operator malfunction", now you must
lean to blow steady or as it's called in piping blowing tone.