At the end of last week "easy" tongues for my Kinnaird Evolution reeds arrived in the mail. I immediately switched out the "regular" tongues and gave them a whirl. Not much of a real difference in sound, but a little quieter and a little more air efficient - which is good, since I'm playing a medium soft chanter reed. That being said, while I still really like the sound of the Kinnairds, the Crozier reeds are just a bit steadier, and I really like the sparkling quality of the Crozier tenors. I decided to try the Crozier tenors with the Kinnaird Evolution bass to see how they'd sound together. Sweet mother of god! The drones leapt to life. I don't think I've ever heard my McCallums sound that vibrant before. Although the bass is slightly sensitive to pressure changes, as a whole that combination of reeds is pretty much rock steady, easy to tune and puts off an amazingly rich, harmonic sound that interacts really well with the chanter. I think I've found my gold standard for my McCallums.
That being said, in the long run the McCallums are going to be relegated to a backup set. I've talked with Dave Atherton, and am currently putting the funds together for a set of his MacDougall pipes - I really like the seamless, refined sound that they produce. I expect I'll have those in hand by late 2016 or early 2017, and they'll become my main instrument for competitions and solo playing, with the McCallums being used for backup and on the (now somewhat rare) occasions that I play with groups.
That being said, in the long run the McCallums are going to be relegated to a backup set. I've talked with Dave Atherton, and am currently putting the funds together for a set of his MacDougall pipes - I really like the seamless, refined sound that they produce. I expect I'll have those in hand by late 2016 or early 2017, and they'll become my main instrument for competitions and solo playing, with the McCallums being used for backup and on the (now somewhat rare) occasions that I play with groups.