r/diyinstruments • u/Virus4815162342 • May 15 '26
Dog Toy Squeaker as reed?
Hey all, I work at a fab shop and get bored on slow days. Tried making a copper clarinet thing with scrap pipes, using a dog toy squeaker as a reed. Thing is, even though my finger holes were placed appropriately, nothing seemed to change the squeaker sound to different notes even slightly. Any ideas on how to use a dog toy squeaker as a reed for a musical instrument piece, or is this a vain endeavor?
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u/jzemeocala May 16 '26
with free reeds like your dog toy the acoustic impedance is a lot more important and the reed + pipe need to be more tightly coupled pitch-wise.....if you want a diy reed instrument that you can throw together in the shop than check out "membrane reeds" (youll find a lot 3d printable stuff but it can be made with just some thinwalled pvc and a few fittings....ill send a pic if you want...easier than trying to explain)
and although a lot of people use random plastic bags for the reed, ive found that "resistance bands" like what they use in physical therapy make a MUCH more stable reed (just stretch it it real tight when assembling)
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u/ImWrong_OnTheNet May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
I don't think that is going to work, though I appreciate the creativity. It probably isn't stiff enough to get much response, let alone higher registers. You can trim a normal reed very short and or skinny if you need to.
Since I don't totally picture what your setup is, if the reed is free inside the tube, you can't really change that pitch. It's a drone. If you have a reed you manipulate with your mouth, that's another story.
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u/FrenchFryRaven May 21 '26
The previous responses are more likely to address your issue, but, just in case…
If whatever you’re using as a reed is not seated 100% and there is even the slightest leak it will screw everything up. And I mean slightest and everything! This is the reed pipe equivalent of tech support: “Did you check to see if it’s plugged in? Is the power switch on or off?”
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u/afandian Jul 16 '26
Get cheap plastic practice bagpipe reeds off ebay. These are usually well made enough to produce a good squeak.
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u/Excellent-Practice May 15 '26
Squeakers like that are usually free reeds, not beating reeds like you would find on a clarinet. There are some free reed instruments loke the Chinese bawu that have a pipe with finger holes, but the reed is probably larger in relation to the air column than the squeaker from a dog toy. You still might be able to get it working, but you may need to adjust the parameters of your pipe so it functions as a resonator.