Full Size Practice Chanter Information:

The Cushing “Full Size” chanter: You should get decades of use as well as reaping the benefit of improved fingering technique by using this chanter as your practice instrument. The similarities compared to an actual pipe chanter, as well as the differences when compared to standard chanters or other “chamfered hole” long chanters on the market today will be immediately apparent as soon as you put your fingers on the holes.

The first thing you will notice is that the holes have the same size and feel as the regular chanter used on the bagpipe itself. This has been accomplished by the development of our "stepped" cylindrical bore, the staight counterbored lower tone holes, and by the upper notes having an offset inner counterbore to tune the notes of HiA and Hi G. Mark developed this design in the early 1990's in an effort to make a better practice instrument.

This chanter has its own distinctive tone, - not as bright as our standard practice chanter- and it blends well with smallpipe drones. This idiosyncracy which some may term a defect, [we don't!! – you get used to its sound really quickly! ] is more than offset by its advantages of full size holes and “great pipe chanter” spacing. At first, you have to work a bit harder to get clean fingering on this chanter compared to our standard practice chanters or other makers' long chanters. This is because it's easier to sound good with the smaller finger holes found on these practice chanters . However, if you spend a lot of time on a other chanters, you will likely find that when you go to the ‘pipes', you don't have quite the facility that you had on the chanter. With our Full Size Chanter you will find the transition to pipes almost nil. We think you will find that daily practice on our Full Size Practice Chanter is a real asset in improving your fingering, and in getting more out of you chanter practice whether you are a novice or an advanced player.

General Chanter Care:

The Delrin chanter needs little maintainence except occasionally cleaning it out, and greasing the joint with plumbers waterproof grease, cork grease, or vaseline. If you anticipate a period where you are not playing too much, then you should store the chanter taken apart , as over time the grease migrates from the joint and the chanter becomes very hard to pull apart. The “O” rings are available at most hardware stores, and are 1/2” OD - 3/8” ID 1/16” wall thickness. There is a spare on the mouthpiece.

The wood chanter – as with any wooden instrument - needs periodic oiling of the bore and waxing of the exterior - especially if you are playing alot. The moisture leaches out the oil in the wood with repeated wetting and drying. When wood is subjected to expansion and contraction from getting wet and drying again as you play, as well as due to environmental changes in heat and humidity over the course of a year, it also becomes susceptible to cracking. The oil fills thespaces in between the wood cells , and preventswater from getting in there in the first place, as well as acting like a shock absorber to buffer the changes in humidity that the chanter is subjected to. So- when in doubt - OIL IT! In my opinion, you can't do it too much. I also prefer Almond oil [olive oil is 2nd choice because it polymerizes somewhat causing build-up]. Almond oil won't congeal or build up, and is used by orchestral wind instrumentalists as well as bagpipers. You can get it in health food stores and some supermarkets. We do not recommend commercially packaged so called "woodwind bore oil" which is a petroleum product and can be harmful to the instrument!

Antler [and ivory] care:

Do NOT use oil on Antler or Ivory!!!!. Oil prematurely yellows ivory and antler. if you regularly oil the bores of your instruments as we recommend, you need to be careful to have a good barrier coat of wax on antler/ivory first. This will insure that it stays nice and light for a long time to come. Any wax with a high cintent of "carnauba" wax is excellent. A tin of neutral paste wax shoe polish will last you for a decade or more and fits nicely in your pipe box.

You may notice that the antler will get rough feeling after a year or so. This is because it still "breathes" with temperature and humidity changes. To remedy this, get a sheet of 600grit andalso of 1000or 1200 grit sandpaper from your local auto body shop, and sand the antler smooth using liquid furniture wax or water as a lubricant. This will return it to its original smoothness and sheen.

REEDS:

Because this chanter has both the large holes and standard pitch, it's bore design requires it to be somewhat reed specific. If it had only one of these qualities, the chanter wouldn't be so choosy. We were left with the problem of what reeds to design the chanter tuning around. First off, we are now in production of our own reed! , which equals or surpasses any we have ever put in our chanter for pitch and tone. and you can order it in your choice of pitch [standard, or low - to match other makers' long chanters]and pressure [strong, medium, easy]. They are not the cheapest reed in the world, but we guarantee every single one to be a good one or a free exchange. There are a few other reedmakers that have a reed which suits our chanter though - the Watson, MacClellan, Wygent, Abbot, and “McNiell” [or “Gilmore”] reeds. If you find other reeds that work well in our chanter, let us know!

Reed Adjustment: The practice chanter reed adjusts differently than the pipe chanter. Probably everyone knows to move the reed in or out of the chanter to balance the scale, and to use a rubber band to weaken the reed, or to sharpen hi “A”. But we also have a couple of other terchniques which give you a lot of control over the end result.

Strength : IMPORTANT – you can really change a reeds response to suit your blowing this way! ! If you find the reed too strong, you can ease it without changing overall pitch by sanding the tips. First I put some 320grit sandpaper on the edge of a table. I then hold the reed between thumb and middle finger on the base of the staple, and use the tip of my index finger to press the last 1/8-1/4” of the blade tips down on the sandpaper. Rub back and forth 3-4 times each side, and check the reed. I repeat as necessary until the reed is at the stength I need.

Pitch & Balance: you can raise the overall pitch and increase stregnth by clipping 1/32” from the tips of the reed with sharp scissors or a razor blade. If the reed is now too strong, sand a few swipes on each blade for the top ¼ inch or so, using 320 grite sand paper. If the tone then sounds dull, you need to sand the inside edges of the reed tips by inserting 400-600G or finer sandpaper in between the blades and pulling it out while squeezing the baldes together.

Top hand too sharp: If the top notes are now much sharper than the bottoms notes, you can bring them back in to balance by sanding the reed blades further down along their length. The closer you sand to the wrapping, the closer you will bring the top and bottom notes together in pitch, and also you will lower the overall pitch of the reed. .

Tuning: “F” and/or “E” flat : Squeeze the reed blades on the edges just below the wrapping to open up as well as sharpen these middle notes of the reed. Note that if you push the reed into the chanter in an effort to sharpen the top hand, and squeeze the blades together as you do it, you may just flatten the top hand more. So, when you do put in the reed deeper into the reed seat, get in the habit of putting the reed in by holding it on the wrapping by edges, which will aid in sharpening these notes. You can also use an awl to open up the staple a bit, but be carefull!

F” and/or “E” sharp : pinch the the blades of the reed together just at or below the top of the staple. You can actually pinch the staple and deform it a tiny bit - I use my teeth. This is perhaps the most effective method of bringing a reed into balance, but be careful! You can go through a lot of reeds this way if you pinch too hard. If, after doing this procedure, Hi “A” is too flat, move one of the bands up towards tips to sharpen it, or clip the tips of the reed.

Low G too flat : If you pinch the reed on it's edges – again, I use my teeth to find the right spot- down low where the the reed blades start to flare out from the staple, this will sharpen Low G.

With reeds that won't hold the shape you pinch them to, it may be neccessary to make a metal band as the Uillean and Northumbrian pipers do. You can tell that this is the problem, when the notes you adjusted as above go back to the pitch they were at to begin with. I use 2-3 wraps of #24 guage copper wire, but a heavy duty paper staple works OK as well . Locate this on the part of the wrapping that you want to adjust [E/F or low G] and adjust the tension so it pinches the blades either more open or more together by gently biting it, or usng pliers. – Be Careful! . An orthodontist rubber band can be used to hold this metal band in place if need be. You will find this method quite effective, but it does require delicacy and practice.

Full Size Practice Chanter - Reed Adaptor Sleeve Kit $6.50USD:

Some reeds available today may sound sharp on the bottom notes of this chanter. If you are using reeds besides the ones listed above, you may need to use the adaptors as described below. The adaptor Sleeve kit is comprised of 2 plugs and 2 threaded bolts. The longer plug fits in the bottom of the chanter bore, and the shorter plug with the offset hole fits in the low “A” hole of the chanter. While you can push the plugs into the chanter without any tools, to adjust them or remove them you will need the two machine screws.

You can tune Low A by inserting the machine screw with 6-32 threads into the hole in the plug. You can take the plug out by this means, or rotate it. Because the hole in the plug is bored off-center, you can sharpen or flatten Low A by rotating this plug

You can sharpen or flatten Low G by screwing a 1/4”-20 thread machine bolt in the plug in the bore , and then pushing or pulling the plug up or down the bore till Low G sounds right to you.