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Swedish Practice Chanters?????

 
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texasbagpiper
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Joined: 24 Oct 2006
Posts: 352
Location: Texas

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 11:59 pm    Post subject: Swedish Practice Chanters????? Reply with quote

Has anybody ever thought of making practice chanters for swedish pipes so people can practice tunes before they buy a set of pipes. Or practice new tunes like highland pipers do.. Seth

Just a thought....
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Stuart



Joined: 28 Oct 2006
Posts: 12
Location: Comox, BC Canada

PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 12:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Have thought about it. I"ve made some up for my duerer pipes and for a friend learning ssp. Not gotten round to doing it for the sackpipa yet.
one thought. just how sensitive do you think the reed would be to breath moisture? PLay a practice chanter long enough and it does fill up wiht spit and without a bag to absorb moisture would you just have a situation where the cane reed would just quit becouse of moisture?
I'm playing with making a brass and plastic reed for the sackpipa based on eric reswig's ones for his ssp. That might solve that issue.. if it is infact an issue.

Stu
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texasbagpiper
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 12:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stuart wrote:
Have thought about it. I"ve made some up for my duerer pipes and for a friend learning ssp. Not gotten round to doing it for the sackpipa yet.
one thought. just how sensitive do you think the reed would be to breath moisture? PLay a practice chanter long enough and it does fill up wiht spit and without a bag to absorb moisture would you just have a situation where the cane reed would just quit becouse of moisture?
I'm playing with making a brass and plastic reed for the sackpipa based on eric reswig's ones for his ssp. That might solve that issue.. if it is infact an issue.

Stu


I was thinking a fully plastic reed, body and tongue...
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Quimbisero



Joined: 28 Oct 2006
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 1:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's the sort of thing that kind of makes sense for pipe bands and for people who play GHB but live in urban settings, but as someone whose main piping life has been with other kinds of bagpipes than GHB, it strikes me as something highland pipers think of value primarily out of habit.

I certainly wouldn't want to discourage anyone, but especially given the low volume and ease of blowing of the sackpipa, it strikes me as more effort than it's worth. That of course is my two cents worth. Your mileage may vary. So if you feel inclined, have at it.

Eoghan
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Stuart



Joined: 28 Oct 2006
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Location: Comox, BC Canada

PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 1:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i've had no luck making fully plastic reeds. Keep destroying the tube as I make it. which is why I have stuck with the brass body.
any hints on how to do this in plastic?

Stu[/quote]
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Olle
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 11:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is a commercially available practice chanter for the Swedish pipes: Anders Fagerström's electronic chanter.

A cheap approach is to buy a Spilåpipa from Leif Erikssons - a traditional fipple flute from Dalarna. Leif makes them with 7 finger holes (some others have 8). If you take one of Leif's and cover the top finger hole with scotch tape so that you can move your hand position down one step, the scale becomes that of a Swedish chanter in minor.

Olle
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Aaron K. Holt
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Joined: 01 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 6:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have an electronic practice chanter by Anders Fagerstrom. If anyone was interested I'll offer the following observation: I like it very well, and I make frequent use of it. I started learning with it before I bought my pipes. It's good for learning new tunes, and it's a handy thing to have if a tune pops into your head at 5am. But there are some drawbacks. The fingering is pretty much exactly the same, but it doesn't have the second, lower thumb hole (sounding g natural in A/E or f natural in G/D). Instead you have to employ a "cross-fingering-ish" method to sound that note. It's not very helpful to practice a tune that way only to play it differently on the bagpipe. And a lot of additional techniques for increased tonal range are impossible with it as well. It also has a goofy Atari sounding tone. All of that said, I would reccommend it to anyone thinking about buying one. I wouldn't be piping today if I hadn't bought it to get a feel for Swedish piping. I'm very happy with it.

I have seen recently that Fagerstrom is now making electronic bagpipes too. It's basically the same as the Practice chanter but with a lot of bells and whistles - wider tuning range, more realistic sound, drone options, built-in metronome etc... Only Highland and Northumbrian versions are available as of now, Swedish pipes are in the works.

Hey Olle, He says on his "Technochanter" site that he consulted you for details with the practice chanter... any word on the electronic bagpipe? Will there be a second thumb position on this one?
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Olle
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 7:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not at liberty to tell.
(but I think it'll be great)

Olle
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Anders Jackson
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Joined: 28 Nov 2006
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Location: Dalarna, Sweden

PostPosted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used that electronic practice chanter on a track that we did on a CD recording. I sounded quite good through a modern effect box for guitars Smile
Not like the real pipes, but anyway...

(Our band is called "Sorkar och Strängar" <http://sorkar.com>, sorry mostly in Swedish only).
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Aaron K. Holt
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Joined: 01 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have tried this as well. Very Happy I have an old DOD g7 guitar processor. Before I got my pipes, I was playing around with it to see what kinds of sounds I could get out of it. I liked a combination of overdrive, digital delay, and sterio chorous. It sounded nothing like a bagpipe, but it was really cool.
I'm very glad I spent the cash on that chanter for so many reasons.
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Idoheby



Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Posts: 33

PostPosted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 8:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stuart wrote:

I'm playing with making a brass and plastic reed for the sackpipa based on eric reswig's ones for his ssp.

I'm very interested in it. Could you share the photos or maybe plans...
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Stuart



Joined: 28 Oct 2006
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Location: Comox, BC Canada

PostPosted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Idoheby wrote:

I'm very interested in it. Could you share the photos or maybe plans...


Really have to save up and get me a digital camera someday, much easier to post photos with that... However check out
http://www3.telus.net/ereiswig/ssp_make.htm
here is Eric's page address, you'll find the plans for this reed type buried among the plans for his plastic & brass Scottish smallpipe. some years back these were the first pipes I ever made, and they sounded pretty darn good! I still use variants of his reed design and once set up the things never give me any trouble, even when soaking wet. Just change the diameters and lengths based on the reed you wish to duplicate. Within reason I've found they work (when modified) on most smallpipes of various kinds. If you scale this up too big you will have to change the type of plastic in the tongue for something else.

Stu
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Idoheby



Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Posts: 33

PostPosted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 6:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stuart thank you very mutch for this link!
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