Reviewing Uilleann Pipes Reeds from Amazon

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Okay so I know Jeff Bezos doesn’t make Uilleann Pipes reeds but the clickbait thumbnail was too funny to pass up. Interestingly enough, a lot of these made in Pakistan pipes & reeds are sometimes branded ‘Geoffrey’ pipes, so maybe theres a link somewhere after all…
No Amazon affiliated links here! You’re welcome to check them out yourself but I’d recommend watching the video first.
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00:00 - Intro
02:13 - First Impressions
04:43 - The Chanter
06:52 - Playing Tests
13:19 - The Best Reed
16:06 - Closing Thoughts
18:45 - Outro

[@PracticaProphetica]

I really appreciate you taking time to do these kinds of analyses for those of us who don't have the experience. You deserve more subscribers, but I understand the Uilleann clan is few and far between. I sent a small donation.

[@sionrouse]

Thank you so much! That is really appreciated 😇

[@patrickodonnell4109]

Excellent video. Great idea to buy a small batch of these reeds just to learn how to manipulate or rework a reed to an acceptable sound. Very helpful. Thank you.

[@jonpowell-ov3yh]

Thank you for this useful review. It's very easy to dismiss these items as being inferior. But, honestly, what can you expect for a few bucks? Yes, they need worked-on to make them moderately playable. But they are cheap enough that if you only work one out of 6 or 7 into a playable reed, you're still way ahead of the game. Most beginners can't afford to hack up quality reeds in the process of learning reed tuning (and/or lack the skills to make their own reeds). Also, many people live in parts of the world where they don't have a pipe-maker remotely close, so learning by trial and experimentation is their only option. These reeds at least give them an affordable starting point.

[@sionrouse]

Thanks! There are some good reed making videos on CZcams like the Allan Moller one. And also a wealth of info on pipers.ie with videos and pdfs and that. It’s not easy to make reeds but those resources might help for someone interested in it or tweaking one. And aye these reeds would be good for that too! Maybe I’ll do a follow up or a live feed on improving this kind of reed 🤔

[@joineralbert2493]

Bought a set of them myself, made all of them crow first then tried them . Not one did match my nr one.
Maybe scrape some of them later.
Stuck the best of them in my tenor regulator and..... Perfect!

[@sionrouse]

A bad chanter reed could make a good reg reed!

[@Cthepiper]

This actually happened at our SoCal uilleann pipes club. Thanks

[@sionrouse]

Ha!

[@cjnovack]

Much appreciated, Jason. An excellent overview to manage expectations. Do you have a video for students who like to monkey with the bridle before they know what they are doing to help them understand what it does and not to mess with it?

[@lemon_duck]

Great video

[@jimobrien84]

Interestingly enough on my Amazon here in the states they don’t have chanter reeds listed. They do however have full sets of Pakistani pipes, and oddly enough what are listed as plastic regulator reeds.
I was trying to look them up to see who could have left those positive reviews

[@sionrouse]

Oh I hadn't taken in to consideration the international differences. It's really wild that they sell full sets.

[@jamesmolloy4798]

Jason . Why has pipe band s got the stage thst they can get close to perfection, uillean pipes is all about the maker . The way he makes his reeds and pipes. Why are uilleann pipe makers so out of step. I have seen a utube video where the reed maker in vested big money on auto reed making

[@sionrouse]

With uilleann pipes there is no standard template. Every maker has their own unique way. And then you have other differences like pitch and bore. It’s a pity there is no universal reed out there but it’s also great to have such variety in instruments and they all sound and play differently. Part of the fun is finding out how a specific chanter plays well, where are the good notes and how do you adjust your playing to make it really sing!

[@markkavanagh4457]

Never buy reeds from an unknown maker..

[@markkavanagh4457]

Never buy reeds from an unknown maker.. those reeds contain dying cat DNA...

[@sionrouse]

🙀