Customer Comments on the Pitch Guard™
A few comments from customers about the Pitch Guard™
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Only physical bagpipe tool mentioned in the
2022 PRODUCT OF THE YEAR category!
PitchGuard™, Chris Apps Reedmakers – an interesting concept coming from unlikely rural Missouri, the PitchGuard™ shows that there’s always room for products that promise better tonal consistency for pipers.
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Hi,
I purchased a pitch guard from your stockist Kitls & More.
I'm very pleased.
Leslie Thomson
Sur Pipes Band
and a follow up to that email
Dear Chris.
We bought two PGs, as I mentioned in my previous email.
And now, we've gone ahead and ordered another three.
I guess this speaks for itself.
Cheers,
Leslie
and a follow up to that email
Hi Chris,
I've ordered one more P:G from Kilts and More.
Ever thought you'd sell 6 PGs to Spain?
Cheers.
Leslie
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I think the biggest improvement that we have seen is the opportunity to “turn off” The Chanter. It has given us the opportunity to isolate the Chanter reed from the bag moisture. We can turn this off every time we complete a set, when we know we are taking a short break. It saves us from having to pull the chanter and cap it too regularly, risking reed damage. By using this practice I do feel that our chanters were more stable on the day of the contest or concert.
Pipe Major Riddle
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It has helped maintain the high hand pitch on the chanter. Especially with some of our players that are struggling with consistent blowing.
Great product!
Jim
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I've gotten the installing down pretty well and am very happy with the results so far.
Thanks! Brian
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My 12 year old daughter Anna is small for her age, and has had problems playing a full size set. She’d been on a 3/4 set of old S&I Lawries and I recently switched her to a set of Hendersons with the same reeds. She’s playing an 8” Bannetyne bag which helped (even a 10” was way too big).
Biggest problem with her is that she overblows and underblows really wildly. She has excellent fingers, but she’s so small that her reeds have to be really light. In fact her reed is so light that if it is made any lighter, it will totally collapse on the high hand. Because of that she woukd go from chokes every half second to badly overblown high hand. This is why I was thinking of the PitchGuard™ for her.
Ok so I put the PitchGuard™ in Anna’s pipes at the beginning of August. I had a little bit of trouble generating a seal at the stock orifice, and I found that if the wire lever is even slightly askew, the seal is not 100% when closed.
Once I got it fitted and tied in, I immediately noticed that Anna’s tone improved by leaps and bounds. Immediately after putting the PitchGuard™ in, her bad blowing became a thing of the past for her, to the point that she won the G4jr Piobaireachd at Capital District Scottish Games (playing Cill Chriosd like a boss!) and was third in the March on Labor Day Weekend. Her tone and steadiness have improved dramatically, she plays with confidence because she just sounds better.
I’d have wondered if the PitchGuard™ would have just masked her bad blowing, leading to a good chanter sound and a more wavery drone sound. That does not seem to be the case. She seems to be rock steady on the drones and chanter now.
Long story short, this wonderful little device has taken my daughter’s playing to new levels. Thanks again!!
James Feeney, MD, MEd., FACS, CDR MC USN
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I know I'm not subconsciously reacting to changes in players around me to try to "split the difference". It's pretty clear to me, I was doing that.
John
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I like the fact I can shut the chanter off to tune the drones.
Tery
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It really helps with the tuning aspect, not having to remove the chanter. Still playing around with the pitch, all in all a great product.
Thank, Cliff
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I was playing live on GB news. I just wanted to say how well I was impressed with your pitch guard. The time for tuning within a studio environment is practically zero. So with the assistance of the pitch guard being able to tune one tenor then stop the chanter and tune the middle and bass to the outside chanter helped tremendously. The tune Jonny Cope I had not played for about 40 years so I played it quite deliberately! First and last parts only. Watch the video here - https://youtu.be/308RVyT7Bn8
I can most definitely recommend the Pitch Guard, a complete game changer for a novice through to an experienced piper.
Charles Mackie - Retired piper of Black Watch 1st Battalion Royal Highlanders Regiment
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Hi Roxelyn & Chris,
Just letting you know the Pitch Guard arrived today, very neatly packaged - thank you.
I have installed it in my Ross bag on my McCallums. It was easy to assemble, slightly difficult to fit in the neck of the Ross bag, olive oil and a far bit of effort required, but it works exactly as it should.
Kind regard
Tim S
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It does work. After my pal tested it we tested it together at band practice. It does work!
Don M
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Like many of us, my pressure can vary. Get nervous? Blow harder! So my E and High a could creep up, and the Piob High G could wobble. But with the PitchGuard in and adjusted, I am far less likely to push the chanter higher. Nice product!
Mark W
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Hi Chris within our band we do have pipers that over low easy reeds gggrrrrrr!
As such your Pitch Guard product would seem to resolve this.
Also for myself I sometimes play a very easy synthetic pipe chanter reed which is incredibly easy, however true to pitch. This reed set up I use for my indoor practices keeps the volume down for the neighbours lol. So looking forward to trying out your pitchguard.
Charles
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Wow. Chris! This is such a scientifically brilliant idea. Usually I'm pretty skeptical of "tone gadgets". This isn't a gadget. It took me a minute to sort out what this thing is doing. From physics standpoint, it's absolutely brilliant and will work. Assuming I can find the equilibrium of it.
John
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Chris,
I received your Pitch Guard in the mail today. Here are my thoughts
-my stock has no notch. I at first assumed that I would have to carve a notch, and rummaged around for a rat tail file to do the dirty deed. But, it occured to me to try the fit first. And to my pleasure, when fitted in place in the stock, the lever does not touch the stock, so I did not bother to make a notch for it to fit in....
-getting the hemp on was a bit of a pain, since the lever gets in the way; but only a very minor issue. I don't see any way around that. Just a minor nuisance, not a real problem.
-when placing the new O ring on, one needs to take care that the notch in the O ring faces outward. My tendency, of course, was to roll the O ring down into place, and then the notch faced straight upward. So I simply coaxed the whole thing around until the notch faced outwards.
-Obviously, the stock has to be put back into the bag from the outside in; not from the inside out, as the lever gets in the way of the neck of the bag.
-Finding the right adjustment will take some practice. At first I was having a hell of a time getting the chanter to sing. I put it on the manometer, and lo and behold, the chanter did not come in until I got up to 40 inches. That was mighty discouraging, until--duh--I realized I had it almost closed rather than open.
So I backed it the other way and got things going.
Clearly, a Grade 2 or above piper will have no issues with comprehending from the instructions what to do and what tweaks are required. I think the directions could be a bit friendlier to grade 3 and 4 type readers. Can you anticipate where we might have anxieties? Worries? Confusion? Offer some reassuring guidance.
Mark
(please note the many instructional videos now available here)
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