How to make cane drone reeds from
Phragmites Australis
(The Musical Grass)
by The Naked Piper

The reed is a magnificent grass that is very common, it grows from the Mediterranean to Sweden. It grows in huge areas in standing shallow water.

It grows tall and thin. It has a plumed top, and the flowers are deep purple when in full bloom, and the seed heads are whitish when ripe. I have pet finches, and they love to eat the seed heads.

It's not the Arundo Donax that pipe reeds are normally made of, but you can make reeds of it.

Here's how:

Cut the reeds and allow them to dry.

Then you need sections of reed that are appropriate for the reed you want to make. For the Great Highland Bagpipe, here are the dimensions of the reeds, within 1/16" or so:

Dimensions of reeds:

Tenors: 3 1/2" x 1/4" Setback of cut: 1/2"

Basses: 4 3/8" x 5/16" Setback of cut: 1/2"

Select a piece of reed that's the thickness you need.

When you make a reed, there's a closed end and an open end that fits into the drone.

The closed end points towards the root of the growing reed.

Perhaps you don't know how to cut a reed to length?

Here's how to do it:

Make a mark around the reed at the point you want to cut:

Then you take a sharp knife and press straight into the line all the way around:

On one side of this shallow score is reed you want to keep, and on the other is waste reed.

From the waste side, raise shallow shavings that are stopped by the scored cut you just made.

Then you score again, and cut the chips a little deeper all the way around the reed.

When you have done it enough, the reed will snap in two where you made the cut:

The node left on the other side should now be cleaned up. This should be obvious but a picture is included:

Now you have a piece of reed the size you need for a drone reed.

There's a problem. Inside the reed is a kind of fluff or paper mostly clinging to the inside walls of the reed. I use a very small round pointed file called a riffler available from a hardware store to remove this paper.

Check inside to make sure the paper has been cleared away. On phragmites the paper is shiny, and the cane behind it is dull in color.

Now you're ready to make the end cut for the tongue. You'll notice that on the reed there's a bud which looks like a branch is about to grow out. This bud runs right down the midline of the tongue.

A couple of notes about this cut. It isn't exactly perpendicular to the grain. The cut must slant towards the plume of the growing plant, so that the tongue, when it's finally free, is free to move up and down without being impediment from the rest of the reed.

If you'll notice, the knife is angled slightly towards the left hand as it goes deeper in.

This cut must be made with a fine, strong, sharp knife. Don't slide the blade, just push it in.

Eventually it will stop. To get it to go in deeper, on the node side of the cut take out a couple of chips like you did to cut the reed in half. These chips should be very small and fine. They remove "wood" that is binding on the blade and allow the knife to go still deeper. You shouldn't cut so deeply that you raise a hole, but if there is a small hole it's OK. You sometimes see these small holes in professionally made reeds.

When the knife is about one-third of the way through or so, you have cut deeply enough. The knife should be able to sit all the way across the cut:

Now you're ready to free the tongue.

BEFORE YOU START, it's a good idea to bind the end with your bridle, so that you stop the splitting before it runs out the end and the whole tongue falls off. You don't want that!

Just in front of the cut, point the knife to the center of the reed's diameter and pierce just enough to get a split started:

Then go to the other side, do the same thing, only bring the knife slowly and easily down the grain a little farther:

Then go back to the first side and "walk" the split on both side of the tongue down to the bridle. When both splits reach the bridle, you're done.

Next the end that fits into the drone must be tapered with the knife so that it will fit into the drone.

Then the node will leak air. It's not enough air to keep you from playing but the pitch of the vibrating reed is too high. So you put melted wax on the end of the reed.

If you have hard red sealing wax avialable, it's the best wax to use. But if not, then
parafin from a candle will work fine. Just light the candle and when there's a small
puddle of melted wax, blow out the candle and stick the node of the reed in. The pores of the reed will absorb the wax and close up.

Here's a picture of the final product:

The reed will need to be broken in. I've found I can break in these reeds fairly quickly by inserting something to lift the end of the tongue, and moving the bridle halfway up the tongue, to put a swoop into the tongue.

These reeds work as well as reeds you've bought, they can be adjusted to match the sound of your pipes well, and best of all, once you understand how to make them you can have a selection of them around so that you are never at a loss for a well-broken-in reed!