Norden Sackpipa Association of the Americas (NSAA)

[Aaron K. Holt]

I did something today that I read about on Olle's site years ago but never tried for some reason. I put some clear nail polish on a reed that I had scraped too much. It worked out pretty well!
The reed retained it's sound (which I was already very happy with) but it doesn't lock up like it used to. It's still not a *great* reed, but it's quite a bit better than it was. It's also a lot more resistant to moisture than it was before - the nail polish seems to have impregnated the fibers of cane.

I never tried this before because I was worried that it would ruin the reed. But in this case, the reed was so weak that I could hardly use it anyway, so I thought I should give it a shot. I'm curious to see how long the effect lasts. I may have to apply another coat after a while.

One added bonus - the lowest notes in the scale (e, d, c) are a little stronger now, so the overall volume of the chanter is more uniform. I can also press the bottom of the chanter to my leg and get an extra note (b) which I couldn't do before.
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Aaron