Difference Between Different Chanter Reeds

[OC Richard]

There's a spectacular set of delrin Dunbars on Ebay right now:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bagpipes-201...kAAOSwhkRWcW56

Personally, I would recommend anyone get wood pipes rather than plastic. I owned, at the same time, two sets of ABW Dunbars and one set of plastic Dunbars. As far as tone goes, there's virtually no difference. I doubt if anyone could tell a wood set from a plastic set by listening, as long as the specs were the same.

What I don't like about plastic pipes is

1) the appearance. Let's face it, plastic doesn't look as good as fine wood.

2) condensation. A large amount of moisture would collect in the drones when played, making the drone reeds misbehave.

3) weight. On the shoulder, the plastic pipes were far heavier. I love the comfort of a light set on the shoulder.

A word about nomenclature: the American term "delrin" refers to the same stuff that is called "polypenco" in the UK.

Here's that Ebay Dunbar poly/delrin set. It's a reproduction of a MacDougall set, and has a very high-quality refined tone. It's mounted in imitation ivory and hand-engraved aluminum



More nomenclature stuff: the material that Americans call "aluminum" is called "alloy" in the UK.