I have a full set of Rohr Schalmei pipes that I purchased locally.  They have a lovely sound, but I borked a bunch of them fitting them into my Topsy organ.  Here's some notes about these pipes and how to fix them.

A Rohr Schalmei rank is one of the hardest reed‑flue hybrids to regulate because it combines:

• a flue pipe body (like a Rohrflöte)
• a reed‑pipe reed (like a Schalmei)
• a chimney / rohr that radically affects tuning and speech
• a very narrow voicing window

They are notorious for being unstable in the upper octaves (exactly the B5–A7 range you tried in Topsy). But they can be regulated reliably if you follow a strict, repeatable workflow. Below is the complete, workshop‑ready regulation workflow used by builders who deal with these hybrid pipes.

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🎯 Short answer

To regulate a Rohr Schalmei, you must:

1. Fix the reed unit first
2. Set the wind pressure
3. Stabilize the chimney resonance
4. Voice the reed to the resonator
5. Tune the reed
6. Tune the chimney
7. Re‑balance reed vs. flue resonance

If you skip or reorder these steps, the pipe becomes unstable.

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🧰 1. Start with the reed unit (the heart of the pipe)

Rohr Schalmei reeds are tiny and extremely sensitive.

✔ Clean the shallot

• Remove dust, corrosion, and burrs
• Use a brass shim to clean the throat
• Ensure the cutaway is perfectly clear

✔ Flatten and re‑curve the tongue

• Very slight curvature
• Almost flat at the tip
• Gentle rise toward the wire

Too much curve → won’t start
Too little → squeals or double‑speaks

✔ Center the tongue

If the tongue is even 0.1 mm off‑center, the pipe becomes unstable.

✔ Set wire tension

• Too tight → harsh, unstable
• Too loose → won’t start

This step alone fixes 50% of regulation problems.

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🌬 2. Set the correct wind pressure

Rohr Schalmei pipes typically want:

• 3.5–5 inches WC for classical styles
• 5–6 inches WC for theatre‑organ variants

If the pressure is too high, the upper pipes (B5–A7) become impossible to tune.

Set the pressure before tuning anything.

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🏛 3. Stabilize the chimney (rohr)

This is the part most people skip — and it’s why the pipes misbehave.

The chimney:

• controls the effective resonator length
• stabilizes the reed’s pitch
• adds a formant peak
• prevents overblowing

✔ Check the chimney cap

• Must be airtight
• Must not wobble
• Must not leak

✔ Check the chimney hole

• Must be clean
• Must not be partially blocked
• Must not have burrs

✔ Check the chimney height

If the chimney is too low → pipe is unstable
If too high → pipe is weak and flat

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🎺 4. Voice the reed to the resonator

This is where Rohr Schalmei becomes tricky.

✔ Seat the resonator correctly

• No leaks
• No rocking
• No gaps

✔ Adjust reed strength

• Flatten tongue slightly → brighter, louder
• Add curve → softer, more stable

✔ Adjust shallot opening

• Open slightly → more reed tone
• Close slightly → more flue tone

You want a balanced hybrid, not a pure reed.

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🎼 5. Tune the reed (coarse tuning)

Use the tuning wire:

• Raise wire → sharper
• Lower wire → flatter

Do NOT try to tune the chimney yet.

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🔔 6. Tune the chimney (fine tuning)

The chimney is the fine tuner.

✔ Raise the chimney cap → sharper

✔ Lower the chimney cap → flatter

This is the opposite of a normal flue pipe.

Important:

Never tune the reed and chimney at the same time.
Always stabilize the reed first, then fine‑tune with the chimney.

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🎤 7. Final balancing (the magic step)

Once the pipe is speaking and tuned:

✔ Adjust reed vs. flue dominance

• If too reedy → increase chimney height
• If too fluty → open shallot slightly
• If unstable → add a tiny bit of tongue curvature

This is where the Rohr Schalmei becomes beautiful instead of frustrating.

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🧪 Why your B5–A7 pipes were so hard

High‑pitched Rohr Schalmei pipes are extremely sensitive because:

• the reed is tiny
• the chimney dominates the tuning
• the resonator is short
• the reed and chimney fight each other
• the wind pressure window is narrow

If any of the seven steps above are off, the pipe becomes untunable.