Thursday, May 10, 2012

Making a Scottish Small Pipe chanter

Turning the drilled piece of red wood after it has been bored makes it "chatter" (vibrate) especially in the center, so care is needed to steady the wood with the hands as one turns down the wood to the thin diameter. I am trying a different design with the reed stock so I went away from the traditional measurements. The reed end of the chanter fits into a "reed stock" so the chanter can be removed while the reed is still in the bag/stock.
I do not have a metal work lathe yet, so I turned the form down with the chisel then finished off with rough sandpaper to get the thickness even along the chanter, this helped to reduce "chatter". The bottom end of the chanter is a little thicker to the top by a few millimeters.