Hello! I’ve been away for a little bit of time, with Thanksgiving break and all, but I am back!
My first major update is that we had our first UMW Eagle Pipe Band practice in a while this past Wednesday, the 29th. I hadn’t shown off the tenor drone top to the other EPB members at that point, so I just put it on my pipes to see if anyone would notice. Our pipe major, Olivia Corcoran, was the first to point it out. After playing a few sets, I asked her if she though it sounded alright, to which she responded “I couldn’t really hear it”, which in the world of bagpiping is an excellent sign. (meaning nothing sounded too out of place!)
Before practice I spent a few minutes adjusting my drone reed- I’m still trying to work out why, but the reed for the 3D printed drone needed to be tuned much lower than the reed for the regular drone.
The image above is from Henderson Imports, depicting the EzeeDrone Drone Reeds. These are the reeds that I have in my personal pipes. The screws at the bottom of the reeds are called tuning screws. They are one way to control at what pitch the drones tune- this was what I had to adjust, on top of tuning the upper part of the drone, to ensure that I could get the 3D printed drone to match the normal drone.
It could very well be the result of a millimeter’s difference in the sizing between the drones, but that is mere speculation. I will continue to look into it!
Incredible success so far! I am currently in the DKC working on the finishing touches of the tenor drone top, and the bass drone top. I will update soon!
