Duncan Soutar Practice Chanter Reed It is well known by Pipers that the shorter length practice chanter reeds, with the fan shaped blades tend to sound nicer than the longer pc reeds. The longer on the other hand tend to tune more accurately, especially in longer practice chanters. The solution: Short, fan shaped reed blades on a long staple. The Soutar practice chanter reed is very similar in design to the John Walsh practice chanter reed. With 1 difference I've noticed: The Soutar reed seems to like a wider variety of practice chanters.