Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots

10 Jun 10 - 08:48 AM (#2924532)
Subject: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: SteveMansfield

Can anyone offer any pointers on making bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots?

I've heard it mentioned in various places and would quite fancy having a go at making my own rauschpfeife reeds, but wouldn't really know how to start and rummaging round Google hasn't come up with anything useful.

Any advice / hints welcome - anything really (although preferably more informative than the bloke in the pub last night who said 'My mate says it's really easy'): best kind of yoghurt pots, what wire would I ask for in my local hardware shop (as I presume my local B&Q wouln't immediately know which wire made the best reed binding) etc.

TIA

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10 Jun 10 - 08:59 AM (#2924537)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Morris-ey

"Can anyone offer any pointers on making bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots?"

What kind of bagpipe?

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10 Jun 10 - 09:03 AM (#2924539)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: GUEST

Read this

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10 Jun 10 - 09:24 AM (#2924553)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Jack Campin

Julian Goodacre does that, as do most smallpipe makers. I have a set of his pipes and they sound great.

BUT. No two batches of yogurt pots are the same; they vary in curvature, thickness and stiffness. To get a dependable product, Julian bought up several hundred pots from the same batch (for Howgate cottage cheese, if I remember right - he bought them empty).

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10 Jun 10 - 09:37 AM (#2924558)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Mo the caller

Mudcat meets Blue Peter

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10 Jun 10 - 10:40 AM (#2924608)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: SteveMansfield

Thanks Guest, a great start.

Morris-ey as I said in the OP it's actually for my rauschpfeife, but the technique is most often talked about for bagpipes (and they're pretty much the same basic sort of reed) hence the title.

Thanks all - any more?

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10 Jun 10 - 01:29 PM (#2924742)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: DonMeixner

I am not intending to be snarky but....

I watched this post from the moment it was placed because I wanted to see how long it would take for some one to Google the question and post the answer. I went there and there are many many hits for this very question. And 15:00 minutes is a respectable return on the time. What wonders me is why the OP didn't Google it himself? Of corse that could be Herself as well.

Google,evil tho' it may be, has the answer to almost all the craft questions that can be asked. I am suprised that by now it isn't the default arbiter of all questions.

Go to Google and type JFGI and see what you get.

Don

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10 Jun 10 - 01:34 PM (#2924746)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Jim McLean

When I was busking in Europe in the late fifties I found the plastic price labels used in Belgian butcher shops ideally suitable for making chanter reeds (Scottish bagpipes).

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10 Jun 10 - 02:52 PM (#2924819)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Geoff the Duck

Don -





Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis -









I was told by Google...




Quack!
GtD.

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10 Jun 10 - 03:26 PM (#2924852)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Geoff the Duck

Google also pulled up this article - BLICKY !!. It points out that asking a question is about considerably more than just getting the answer... Mudcat in particular is at it's best a valuable source of fun not just answers.
For me, these sorts of technical question draw out the recollections, opinions of quality of an idea, what REALLY works and which ideas to avoid. They will tell us which web sites are worth checking out and which are put together by people who are talking out of the back of their neck.
When I really want a good answer, I find the Mudcat filter process better than the Google "more hits than other sites" process.
Quack!
GtD.

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10 Jun 10 - 09:54 PM (#2925148)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: katlaughing

When these kinds of questions get posted, Dennis Havlena is the one person who comes to mind, immediately. I learned about him on Mudcat and swear he has made every instrument imaginable out of ordinary materials. Check out some of his youtube videos. Very instructive.

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11 Jun 10 - 03:20 AM (#2925250)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: SteveMansfield

@DonMeixner - GeoffTheDuck's response voices my feelings precisely.

I was, similarly, wondering how long it would take before someone would jump on and say 'LMGTFY' ... so (genuine question) what Google search term did you use that came back with decent articles about how to do it and what hints & tips have worked best for individuals, rather than a load of articles saying 'I use yoghurt pots'?

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11 Jun 10 - 03:37 AM (#2925256)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Jack Campin

I mentioned Julian Goodacre as a counterbalance to Havlena. Havlena is into crude-but-entertaining clunky hacks. Goodacre is a high-end craftsman who makes some of the best pipes you can buy. His reeds can easily last 20 years with no attention.

If you want a good, stable result, you'd be better looking at how the professionals do it.

The structure of cane and plastic reeds is basically the same. Finding a tube to use for the staple is going to be more difficult than finding a material to make the reed itself out of.

Thing is, a plastic reed on a windcap instrument lasts so long you will quite likely not live to replace it. So why spend days learning the skill and then use it once, when you could just buy one?

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11 Jun 10 - 04:07 AM (#2925265)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: SteveMansfield

So why spend days learning the skill and then use it once, when you could just buy one?

Basically because I've not been come across anyone making synthetic reeds for the rauschpfeife that I can buy - and, also, because I'm curious about the actual process as much as I am keen to produce the end result ...

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11 Jun 10 - 04:26 AM (#2925268)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Tangledwood

So why spend days learning the skill and then use it once, when you could just buy one?

The journey is more important than the destination. :)

One assumes that acidophilus would be beneficial to the pipes?

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11 Jun 10 - 05:17 AM (#2925282)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Geoff the Duck

The journey is more important than the destination.
Very much my view of asking questions on Mudcat. Sometimes the destination you get to is so far from the original imagined one that you wonder why you ever wanted to go to the first one...

Side question - how many times have people tried to google a subject only to find that the people who can answer it are doing so on mudcat?

Quack!
GtD.

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11 Jun 10 - 05:40 AM (#2925288)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: treewind

Jon Swayne also uses yoghurt pots, and like Julian had great problems with getting a consistent supply. One brand and type were perfect for a while, then they changed the pot design and the makers were more that a little surprised when Jon got in touch with then to ask why they'd changed it and explained why he wanted to know.

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11 Jun 10 - 06:20 AM (#2925311)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Wolfhound person

It is possible to make chanter reeds from Guinness can sides - but this cannot be recommended as the injuries sustained in the course of construction can outweigh the advantages. And of course the contents have to be consumed first - which is not a good point at which to start making reeds.

Paws

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11 Jun 10 - 06:39 AM (#2925318)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Mr Red

Allow me to be the first to be so flippant.

"First, curdle your milk................"
Ngarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

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11 Jun 10 - 09:10 AM (#2925377)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: DonMeixner

sfmans,

When I go to Google for a search I ask for exactly what I want. Google is a text oriented search and it seems to find things pretty quick.

I have a book on making Union Uillien(sp?) Pipes and it discusses making drone reeds out of plastic. I can search that book out of The Attic of No Return for you but it will take a day or two.

Dennis Havlena has a great site which I found by googling Making Home Made Instruments a few years ago. He discusses PVC bag pipes and making the reeds.

I find that Mudcat gets answers to questions remarkably quick. I ask for chords to songs frequently. As often because I don't know the chords as I ask to learn a different take on the chords. And because people here are more than willing to share songs, ideas, and opinions.
No friendlier place on the wire.

D

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11 Jun 10 - 09:54 AM (#2925397)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: SteveMansfield

When I go to Google for a search I ask for exactly what I want. Google is a text oriented search and it seems to find things pretty quick.

So, I ask again: in this specific case, when you suggested that I should stop wasting everyone else's time and go and Google the information I wanted,

what Google search term did you use that came back with decent articles about how to do it and what hints & tips have worked best for individuals, rather than a load of articles saying 'I use yoghurt pots'?

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11 Jun 10 - 10:06 AM (#2925406)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: DonMeixner

sfmans

I'm sorry, I wasn't suggesting you stop wasting everyones time and as I re read the posting I can clearly see how you got that idea. I am sorry. It is not in my nature to offend a perfect stranger. I meant to comment on Google being the default serach for most people.

I searched, Can you make bagpipe reeds from plastic containers. I got Dennis Havlena's site.

Don

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11 Jun 10 - 12:01 PM (#2925464)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Geoff the Duck

Don - Sometimes finding the right search is the key. For curiosity I just googled "Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots". The first result was this thread, so your principle of Google finding as close a match for your full search phrase seems to be valid. What it didn't get was the site you pointed us to. Plenty of bagpipe forum postings mention making bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots, but do not actually describe the "how". By page 2 of the results they got onto Turkish cooking.
I think one of the strengths of the mudcat process is that when a question is asked, if three catters each try a google search, they will mentally process the question to form different search phrases, which will lead to a different assortment of web references. With luck, an answer may be in one or more of them, but perhaps not in the search used by the person asking the question.
The other part of the process is being able to separate the wheat from the chaff. It is easy for a person who already knows the answer, to glance through web sites and discard the ones which contain no useful information, especially if it a web site they already know. It is less easy for someone who is not sure what is relevant information and what are red herrings, or comments from people who do not know what they are talking about. Many web forums are full of "geek-speak" and technical jargon, which is all well if you are party to that specific jargon (I know mushrooms, but not electrical circuitry), but make replies incomprehensible to the rest of us. I have found the Mudcat computer geeks invaluable for explaining stuff I have needed to know to get a simple (or sometimes complex) job done.
The other problem with Google is that the web is full of people trying to sell you something. I have on occasion searched months before finding a combination that got me past the commercial sites to something I actually wanted to find. The other major fog is forums where nobody actually knows any more than I do about my query. Thankfully Mudcatters are so diverse in their real lives that almost any question will find at least one member who actually DOES know what they are talking about.

Quack!
GtD.

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11 Jun 10 - 12:07 PM (#2925469)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: GUEST,DonMeixner

I just Googled "Can you make bagpipe reeds from plastic containers"

and the Dennis Havlena site was the second hit. Entitled Make small-pipe and other reeds from yogurt containers. Try again now GtD and see wha6t you get.

Don

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11 Jun 10 - 12:17 PM (#2925477)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Geoff the Duck

Actually the reason I started following this thread is that I own a Bombarde. I never got much practice, as it is so loud I cannot find anywhere which would not disturb the whole street. I seem to recall comments once that some form of plastic reeds produce a slightly less deafening sound, so making my own might be worth the effort.
I agree with Jack Campin that buying a professionally made product can be a better option than doing it yourself once, but also know that I am unlikely to find that option worthwhile for an instrument which I do not play (reasons noted above).
The financial equation of "how many hours working at minimum wage would buy the product" and "how many hours would I waste trying unsuccessfully to make an equivalent" seldom adds up to doing it yourself being a financially better option unless you cannot get the paid work.
I also understand sfmans position that if 1) Nobody makes one to buy, and 2) Learning a new skill is worthwhile for personal satisfaction, then DIY is what you need.
I am also interested in any feedback from people who have actually made their own plasic reeds, so can recommend good materials and tell us what to avoid.
Quack!
GtD.

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11 Jun 10 - 12:31 PM (#2925486)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: Geoff the Duck

Don - I did read and understand what you said a couple of postings further back, and agree that if I use the exact same phrase, it will produce the same result (although at a later date different web sites may well hit the top spots).
What I am trying to say is that, although I would be trying to google an equivalent question, your exact phrase is not the one which would have come into my head. Because of that, I wouldn't have found the Dennis Havlena site as easily as you did.
If, however I had asked on Mudcat, someone else (You), would have found it, and that is one of the things that make Mudcat as a whole more informative than any single one of us.
Quack!
Geoff.

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11 Jun 10 - 01:32 PM (#2925528)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: DonMeixner

Gottcha Geoff, Pretty much the same reason I ask for chords to songs I already have. To get a different take on a specific song from people whose opinion I value.

D

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11 Jun 10 - 02:10 PM (#2925575)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: SteveMansfield

No problems Don. Virtual pipe of peace (reed material of your choice!) coming your way ...

Steve

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11 Jun 10 - 07:21 PM (#2925840)
Subject: RE: Bagpipe reeds from yoghurt pots
From: The Fooles Troupe

A technical comment about Google searches, especially subsequent searches on the same topic - Google remembesr and resorts... :-0   
that's what those clever little cookies they put on your PC are for... :-P

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