Ask twenty pipers the question “how do you scrape a chanter reed?” and you will likely get twenty different answers. There are as many treatments as there are chanter reeds to treat. Even SFU’s Jack Lee admitted as much in his recent discussion on Bagpipe Nation. In that conversation, he described his approach to “the shave,” that is, how to scrape the chanter reed to rejuvenate it and work in its sound and performance to your liking. The scrape though, is not all cut and dry (excuse the pun). There are several approaches that all work well depending on a variety of factors: the reed’s construction (molded vs. ridge-cut); how much material might exist on the blades; whether you are a wet or dry blower; your personal strength preferences; etc. The trick is knowing which approach will work for you and that is going to require experimentation, as well as (I hate to break it to you) ruining some reeds.
A handy guide to help you as you experiment with the shave, or scrape, is downloaded here or by clicking the image below. As always, there are no hard and fast rules and all techniques may fail until you develop the right touch. Read More
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