Hi Bob,
I am assuming that your smallpipes are bellows-blown. One significant difference you will find between smallpipes and GHB is that the moisture presented to GHB drone reeds is pretty nearly constant, whether from your blowing or controlled by a canister. Not so with smallpipes. You will find that the tuning changes significantly with humidity as well as temperature (as the reed opens up or closes.) What this means is that the position of your drone tuning can change quite a lot according to the weather and your central heating etc..
My experience is with Moore smallpipes with cane reeds; other pipes / reeds may differ. I have the upper slide of my A bass drone set just to cover the hemp and have never moved it from the day I got it. The lower slide goes up and down with the weather. I only change the bridle on the reed when I am forced to do so because the drone is getting too near one end or the other. My own approach is to try to have the reed set such that there is sufficient adjustment to cover most situations. My recommendation would be to move the top section out and then adjust the reed to allow the lower section to be about the middle of its travel. BUT, BE WARNED, the reeds are very sensitive as well as being easily broken; only a very small movement of the bridle is likely to be needed.
Hope that helps,
George.
