Traditional Drone Reed Making
Drone reed making is less expensive than you think, mother nature actually supplies you with all the items needed for free.
The most widely used material in the past was the good old Common Elder or Sambucus Nigra, it has fragrant flat topped clusters of white flowers and later on in the year, small 4mm black berries, often used in the making of traditional wine.
When you have identified the tree you can start harvesting your sticks, this is best done in the dormant months when the sap is at its lowest flow.
Harvest branches from the extremities of the tree, try not to cut back too far or the wood will be a larger diameter than you need, cut them back to last years growth only, hang them up somewhere out of the winter frosts until your ready to use them.
The best parts to use, are the browner barked shoots in the mid outer region of the branches, the softer greener barked shoots found right at the extremities are this years younger braches, and are not suitable for making drone reeds.
A guide to selecting suitable sticks, is to squeeze them between your finger and thumb to see if you can collapse the walls, if they break easily any reeds you make with these softer sticks would not have sufficient stiffness to survive later.
Select as many of the longest and straightest pieces you can find, a minimum of around 5 inches, a straight reed makes it easier to insert into the drone stock, so that the petals do not touch the inside of the socket, if a reed petal touches the inside of the stock, it will effect the sound of the drone.
Now start by removing the outer bark, but leaving the pithy inner centre intact, as this helps to keep them stable whilst seasoning/drying, try to leave them drying for as long as you can before using them.
If you collect them each year, you will have a plentiful supply to be going on with and believe you me, you will get through many a piece before finding the one you want, this gets easier with practice of course, when the bare sticks have seasoned, you can begin manufacturing your reeds.
Start by cutting the sticks into the desired lengths, cut them so that they have both ends open and not with a node at one end, you want to be able to blow right through when the pithy centre is removed, some cut the sticks to length straight after they have cut them off the tree, but I like to leave them slightly longer than the finished length because wood being wood tends to shrink down, you can trim the ends later leaving you with nice clean ends.
Now remove the pithy centre, I use a drill with a size of the final bore size you are going to use, more on that later, make sure to remove all of the pith from the inside of the stick, so it is smooth and woody, because if you leave any of the fury fibres behind, it acts as a moisture gathering surface, almost like blotting paper on the inside making the reed more sensitive to any moisture that finds its way inside.
Now block one end with sealing or beeswax, then taper the other end with a pencil sharpener, (see picture top right), so it will fit nicely into the tapered socket at the bottom of each drone, now you are ready to cut the tongue of the reed.
To do this you mark a line across half an inch back from the sealed end, then cut about half way into the stick at 45 degrees towards the middle of the stick with a hard backed razor blade, not a thicker blade like a Stanley knife or the cut will be too big and hamper the sealing effect, (see pictures top left & right).
Then draw a line on either side of the stick so that it is at the centre of the stick adjacent to the cut you have just done, so that it slopes upwards to about a third the depth of the stick a half inch from the opposite side, leaving you with a tapered petal, For cane reeds once you have done the angled cut, gently lever the blade towards the tip and the cane will split naturally along the fibres, be careful not to split the cane all the way along, to prevent this hold the cane or elder between your finger and thumb firmly at the back of the reed, if the petal is not tapered it will be more fiddly to set it later, (see picture middle left).
Now cut along the two lines you have drawn to release the tongue, the stick will be pretty hard to cut into, so if you don't manage to cut right through the surface on your first try and you need to run along the line again, make sure you run along again in the first groove you have just made, because if you run along the line several times without following the original grooves, the finished will have a uneven surface to the sealing edge and it may not seal properly later.
Now you are ready to attach the bridle, take a six to eight inches piece of waxed hemp or similar and pass it underneath the tongue of the reed, (see middle centre) this will lift the petal slightly
To set the petal height and pressure, wrap the waxed thread etc in front or behind the centre strand as in pictures (bottom right) until the reed is working at the required pressure, the waxed thread will stick to itself and can be wound or unwound at will, I prefer this method as it holds the petal firmly.
After you have fitted the bridle on your reed, gently roll it between the palms of your hands, this helps to remove any unwanted swarf that might be lurking between the petal edges.
Tuning Drone Reeds
To lift the tone and the working pressure of the drone reed, shorten the length of the tongue by wrapping more thread towards the front of the reed.
To lower the tone of the drone and lower the working pressure of the drone reed, remove the binding and make the petal longer.
You can also lower or dampen the tone of a reed by adding a little wax etc onto the tip of a petal,
You can also lower the working pressure by scraping away the cane just in front of the bridle.
Always remember; only scrape a little amount each time because once the material has been removed, you cannot replace it again.
Selecting Drone Reed Bore Sizes & Lengths
There is a rule of thumb when selecting the bore sizes of your drone reeds, it goes something like this, match the size of the actual bore in the lower section of your drone, IE, if your drone has a bore of say 5mm, then the bore of the reed should be 5mm or smaller than that and never larger or you can run into unstable back pressure problems, its just like trying to force a 6mm rod through a 5mm hole.
Lengths of drone reeds can also depend on the bore sizes in use, but as a rough guide use the following sizes for a concert D set.
Tenor drone reed = 1-3/4" to 2-1/4"
Baritone drone reed = 2-3/4" to 3-1/2"
Bass drone reed = 3-1/2" to 4".