How can I tune my drones to a lower pitch...

I've had the opportunity to play fairly often in Concert B-flat and, less frequently, in Concert A. With the approach below, I’ve had excellent luck using several different brands of synthetic drone reeds in my Lawries.

For just a moment, think about this: When you blow gently into a drone reed, it gives a low pitch. As you blow harder, the pitch rises. What is needed then, is to reduce the air flow through the reed. Lower flow means that the velocity through the reed is lower. With less air flow, the reed tongue will vibrate more slowly and will be able to pitch lower. We can do this by adding resistance to the air flow.

Without going into the mathematics of flow capacitance and impedance as a function of frequency, what I've done is to make a flange/insert that restricts air flow. The lengths and diameters you need will depend on you pipes - and maybe even on your drone reeds. I have two sets of these inserts for my Lawries. The B-flat set is 1.25 inches long for the tenor (no bass insert is needed on my pipes for B-flat) and flanged (brazed to a brass washer) so that it sits atop the lower sections. I still wrap them with Teflon tape so that they don't move and don't scratch the bores. The A tenor set is 2.00 long and the bass is 2.50 inches.

Here's a picture of a "pre-made" insert (bushing) that I found at hardware store in the drawers of miscellaneous parts. It's made of nylon, comes in a couple different lengths and you can cut it off to suit your needs.

I used the B-flat brass or nylon inserts routinely in Dunbar P3 tenors because they tune too high otherwise. With the inserts in the tenors, the P3s work fine with any modern reed.

It's not necessary to have the top flange, but it does prevent loosing the piece down the bore. Copyright S.K. MacLeod 1996-2008