So here we go. Let’s see how it does. Okay, so it’s showing everything is flat. I’ve got to calibrate my low A. Use the current average. It’s saying about 479.5. Let’s see where that goes. Okay, so there’s my Braw tuner: 479.4. That is pretty darn good. Holy cow. So a little bit sharp on D, a little bit flat on B. I guess I didn’t really get a good reading off my high G there.

So I’m going to go and fix that tape. So flat on B means I’ve got to take a little bit of tape off of the B and sharp on D. Put a little bit more tape on D. So I’ll just say that you can set sort of how sensitive you want your Braw tuner to be. Mine is set to be really sensitive. So even though those dots are whatever that distance is off of the center line, you can see the center line. If they were all up and down in the middle with check marks, that would be perfectly in tune.

It’s showing a little bit sharp on D and a little bit flat on B, but that’s maybe less sharp and less flat than if you had the default settings. Mine’s set to be really, really sensitive. Okay, good.

So I played a little bit of ‘Flett from Flotta’ there to get my F’s and C’s and low A’s. And then a little bit of ‘Meeting of the Waters’ to get my D’s and high G’s. So that’s where we are now. So a little bit flat on high G, sharp on low G and sharp on D. So let’s do the flat on high G to take some tape off our high G. A little bit sharp on D still. Oh, sharp on low G. So put a little bit more tape on low G. Wow, that’s amazing. All right, here we go. I’ll probably retune my drones here, too.

Okay, it’s getting really, really good here. So now we’re really getting fine-tuned. The high G was flat. I took some tape off. I took way too much off. So put a little bit more on to get that high G. But I’ve got to say, I’m really impressed with how this sounds. I don’t know if you can hear it on the video, but the high A, high A is a special note because it has this quality of texture and sort of a resonance that you really don’t get on any other note. And pipers love that high A. When I think about that magical twinkly, sparkly high A, I think of Roddy McLeod. A lot of pipers get a great sound. A lot of pipers have a great high A, but Roddy, that’s sort of like his signature thing, is that amazing, sparkly, twinkly high A. And it has to do with having the right reed that you blow at exactly the right pressure, but also the perfect amount of moisture in the reed. A really wet reed will get crowy. A really dry reed will be too pure and thin and almost sharp sounding. So just having that perfect amount of moisture and then a reed that you’re blowing at exactly the right pressure will give that beautiful twinkly high A.

And it’s really, it’s got it here. See if you can listen to that. Wow, this is really amazing. So just to refresh what we’ve done here, these are my new Peter Henderson PH01 bagpipes. I’ve had them for less than a month. Amazing drone sound. And then this is my eight-year-old chanter reed. It’s got the 2017 on it, Victoria Highland Games, and this has been an amazing experiment.

First of all, I’ve been really impressed with the vibrancy and the projection and the harmonics that I’m getting off this chanter and this reed. I love the high A. It’s got that magical high A that people used to think you could only get from a natural setup with a sheepskin bag and cane drone reeds. This is a Bannatyne hybrid pipe bag with the Dri-flo moisture control system with the tube attached to the blow pipe with the bottle and the chamois. So a hybrid synthetic setup, but it’s really got that magical twinkly high A that I love and that comes from the Tone Protector keeping it at the right humidity level.

So now it’s showing 83 but right in that perfect ballpark. That’s amazing. So it’s the eight year anniversary of the Tone Protector. It’s the eight year anniversary of that reed which has hardly been played in all those years.

I had a really cool experience that happened a couple years ago with a band that I was teaching here in Seattle. One of the players in the band had a health situation and was away from the band for seven months. They got over it, everything’s totally fine and back to normal. But the first practice back after seven months, really glad to see this person back in the circle, going around and tuning the band and working with the band. And when I went around to this piper, the chanter sounded perfectly in tune, just like the last time they played in the band. So it was kind of amazing. And we had this little moment there where I looked up and I said, “Hey, this is amazing. Welcome back. Pipes sound great.”

And he said, “Well, that’s the Tone Protector.” He literally hadn’t played it in seven months. So the Tone Protector will keep your reed ready if you are playing a lot and competing or performing and you just want your pipes to be perfect and hit the ground running every time you play.

They also are great for when you want your pipes to be ready to play and you’re not playing every day. So I think this was proof to me that it really does work. And that reed, it looks new. I mean, it looks just like it was when I put it in there. Literally the only thing I do is I check the humidity and if it falls below 80, I replace the humidity packs. So how often you need to do that depends on where you live, how dry it is where you live.

If you live in a really dry place, the humidity packets get depleted faster because they dry out quicker because they’re fighting against the dryness of where you live. You live in a more moist place, they last longer. I would say I typically get at least six months out of my packets. I put two in there. You can put in one or two. I recommend two unless you find that the humidity level gets too high. I know it has to probably do with where you live.

So for most people, two packets. And it lasts six months or longer. Pretty amazing. And then you’ve got this chanter reed, which is ready to go. So I’m going to say it’s a success. You know, obviously, if I was going to be playing this in a competition or a performance, I would be playing it more than that. I really want to be getting it dialed in, getting comfortable with that, blowing that reed at that strength, and really just doing some minor tuning. But I’ve got to say, right out of the box, I’m really happy.

I’m satisfied with that. So if you’re looking to get a Tone Protector, you can check them out at BagpipeLessons.com/toneprotector. I’ll put the links in the description below. I’ve got the Tone Protector Chanter Cap with the two-way humidity control and the little digital readout on there. I also have the Tone Protector Reed Case, which has the same technology with the hygrometer and the humidity packs and slots for all of your reeds so that you’ve got all your spares. New ones, they break in without even playing them, in the case. And you take your spares and your backups and you save them there for when you need them. And I’ve got extra Tone Protector humidity packs and all kinds of great stuff. So check that out on BagpipeLessons.com/toneprotector.

If you like these videos, check out the videos page on my website. Of course, you can look at them here on YouTube, but you can also go to BagpipeLessons.com/videos. I have all my YouTube videos there, and they’re categorized in terms of gear and playing and tone and all that stuff. And each video has the full transcript there. So if you like reading, you can follow along. Or if you’re looking for something that you remember I said in a video, you can search and find it that way.

Also, I’ve got my Inner Circle membership. I do weekly Zoom classes for my members, and we cover topics, every topic you can imagine. Tuning, tone, reeds, setup, execution, fingering, technique, expression, memorization, performing, all that stuff. Every one of my Zoom classes, and there have been hundreds of them now, are all available for you to watch. So maybe you love Netflix or you love your other streaming services. But if you want to watch some content that is fun and inspiring and also is going to help you with your piping, there’s hundreds of hours of videos to watch on the BagpipeLessons.com Inner Circle, which is my membership.

And I have a lesson library that has hundreds of other lessons on every other topic that you can think of. And I’m always looking for new great ideas. So if there’s something specific you’re looking for that’s going to help you in your piping, you let me know. If we don’t have it on the membership already in the lesson library, we’ll make it for you because we are always looking for new great ideas and some of the best ideas come from our members.

So if you’re looking for a Tone Protector, if you’re looking for my InTune Mic, help you with your tuning, you’re looking for a new set of pipes, one of these new Peter Henderson sets, Tone Protectors, Infinity chanters, my exclusive Foundation reed, the best pipe chanter reed in the world. Every one of those reeds is handpicked by me for you at the exact strength you want and stored in a Tone Protector, humidity controlled environment through all the different phases of manufacturing and shipping and testing and finally delivery to you.

Every one of those reeds is 100% satisfaction guaranteed. You’re not going to get that anywhere else. It’s my personal guarantee to you. So you can get all that stuff at the BagpipeLessons.com/shop. Life’s too short to play bad reeds and to have bad tone. So check it out, get your Tone Protector. If you have one, check the humidity level. If it’s significantly lower than 80…let me rephrase that. If it’s lower than 80, check it again the next day. And if it’s still below 80, it’s time to put some new humidity packets in there. I have those in my shop too.

It’s an exciting time of year for pipers. Some big competitions are coming up in Scotland. And I just want to say good luck to everybody who’s out there competing. If you competed and performed this summer, congratulations. Well done for getting out there. And stick around. We’ve got lots of great stuff happening here at BagpipeLessons.com on the website and here on the YouTube channel in the weeks and months to come. So thanks everybody. See you next time.

Happy piping. Mahalo.