A NEW CONCEPT |
TUNE YOUR CHANTER TO
YOUR DRONES
This concept allows you to blow up your pipes, tweak your
drones, and twist the tuning dial clockwise to sharpen your
chanter. Everything is balanced quickly so you can play right
away.
To make this possible you will need to set up your pipes
differently than you would expect. Follow these steps to make
your tuning process much shorter:
1.
Follow all chanter tuning procedures provided in the
earlier steps (coarse & fine tuning).
2.
Ensure your drone slides are snug with the proper
amount of hemp that allows you to adjust them with
some force, but still only one hand adjustments. Your
tenor drones need to stay in place between plays so
when you retrieve your pipes from your carrying case
they will be set to the same pitch you last played at.
This will greatly speed up the process of tuning.
3.
Providing you followed these previous steps you can
now blow up your pipes so the drones become stable
with no double toning. You might need to sound your
High A to ensure your drones stabilize. Quickly adjust
your bass drone to match your tenors – ignore your
chanter sound for now. This step should only take 30
seconds to accomplish – any longer will cause your
chanter reed to sharpen and become further
unsettled.
4.
At this point you will note that the chanter sounds flat compared to your drone pitch. Twist the
tuning dial in a clockwise direction to sharpen your chanter reed. Most times it takes 2 twists to
bring the chanter in with your drones. Further adjustment of the tuning dial may be necessary.
In most conditions you will not even need to move tape on any of the finger holes.
5.
Set your pipes down, they are ready for your gig.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Once you have followed the above instructions for your
Campbell Tunable Chanter you should now be ready to play
and enjoy!
In the unlikely event that you encounter any problems, please
email:
QUICK TUNING IS BEST
The tuning procedure should take
very little time if you do it
properly. The first mistake is that
most pipers begin adjusting their
drones too soon when they blow
up their pipes for the first time.
Within a few moments, the pipes
have begun to warm up and
become unsettled.
In most cases, the reeds in the
drones and chanter are made of
different materials which cause
them to change pitch at different
rates. It is more common for the
chanter reed to change quicker
than the drones.
With this in mind, set your drones
and leave them. Then adjust your
chanter to your more stable
drones.
CHANTER REED ISSUES?
A huge resource for chanter reed
troubleshooting is available on the
Campbell Bagpipes website.
Please take a moment to look
there if you need further help.
Summary of Contents for Tunable Chanter
Page 1: ......
