Need pointers for playing witha quill

Lately I’ve been concentrating on playing with a noter and quill. The noter I have down especially as that’s how I played using my ring finger anyway.

 What I’m struggling with is "getting the sound right". Not sure I can explain what I mean, but I’ll try. I have experimented with many different quill materials (even the stalk from a small palm on our back porch) and different quill lengths. But mostly goose and turkey quills I have acquired. I don’t know if my problem is how I've fashioned my quill(s) or my playing technique.

Two things that I have not been satisfied with yet:

a. the sound from the drones seems to be much louder than the sound from the melody string.

b. too much of a dry flimsy sound from the quill unless I hold it closer to the striking end.

For some tunes tuning from DAA to CGG helped but still needs some work.

Keep in mind I have watched and listened to all the videos I can find and what I hear on them is great. When I do it I’m not really close. May it’s just my ears picking up different sounds when I’m sitting over the sound holes.

Any suggestions.

David