Chiff and Fipple Forums

Yep, accuracy improves only with relentless practicing -- where "practicing" means "slowing down and fixing every bit that you mess up." Sounds obvious, but the human ear is lazy, and most of us are at least a little prone to thinking "oh, I won't screw that part up next tim...

Pretty neat, he was a real maverick; and sounds like invented the Brian Boru pipes too, then? Actually Henry Starck invented the Brian Boru bagpipes, which I know because a good friend of mine plays a vintage set of Starck (non-Boru) pipes. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Boru_bagpipes Chee...

The Legere reeds seem to be made of machined plastic, not 3D-printed; maybe their material has properties more similar to cane ("grain," etc.) than with, say, injected-molded or "printed" polymers. Regardless, I think this whole area of inquiry is great. On the one hand, cane isn...

So you're saying to Benoit, "Best of luck, but on the other hand, all the possible, useful improvements to this instrument have already been tried by smarter people, so you're wasting your time." That's quite a pronouncement. I agree with those on this thread who have pointed out that inno...

I've found that often, when a drone reed wants to jump way down in pitch at lower pressure but is otherwise good (e.g., it's stable and in tune in the second octave), the thing to do is leave the bridle right where it is, but reduce the curve of the tongue just slightly. I've had good success by sli...

Hey, Patrick: This is a timely question: we just had our January GNIPC Pipers' Session yesterday, and the subject of recruitment & retention came up. On the one hand, I think a certain amount of attrition is to be expected given the cost and complexity of the instrument -- this is not like, say,...

This is a big problem in the Upper Midwest (US), where winters are cold, dry, and long. Most of my piper friends use some combination of entire-room/house humidifiers, case humidifiers, and in the case of Tommykleen, bellows humidifiers. None of that has ever worked very well for me. Instead, I swap...

geoff wooff wrote:Then there are changes to the climate that necessitate the placement of the Pipes in their Box and the lid closed untill the weather improves.

E.g., importing the instrument to Minnesota.

--Mick

Heaven knows, at times playing this instrument can seem less like a blessing than a curse. Like anything that's complicated enough to be compelling, from time to time you have to ask yourself: will walking away do more for you than sticking with it? That is, have the negative parts of the experience...

I have a Haneman 3/8 set in C#, and I love it. While I do hope to "upgrade" it to a 3/4 set some day, in the mean time I'm enjoying the tenor/baritone drone configuration -- it sounds just fine. Plus, it's 33% easier to keep the drones working properly. ;-) It's always made sense to me tha...

Beautiful wood-pairings, Tommy -- the mounts look like boxwood, but what's the darker wood? I also like the old-school bass drone resonator. And is that a brass (or brass-sheathed) bass drone slider tenon, or is that a trick of the light?

Regards,
Mick

Those magazines are digitized and hosted on the uilleannforum. Great reading. Great reading indeed; the archive is a real treasure-trove. But last I heard, the uilleannforum.com guys won't give you access to it unless you're a member of the Seattle Pipers Club (i.e., a subscriber to "Cumann......

I've got the set that Tommy recently saw (though it's actually brass and boxwood, not nickel brass). :-) Besides his standard imitation-ivory mounts, Gallagher also offers boxwood mounts, and sometimes also mammoth ivory; you just have to ask. I've seen several other Gallagher ebony & boxwood se...

Both scholarships have been awarded, to two deservingly lucky Uilleann Boot Camp attendees. Congratulations to you both! Slots are still available for paying registrants, whether you're already a piper or want to take the plunge via our Uilleann Boot Camp. Register early, register often! http://www....

Thanks, Geoff & Michael. I'll leave it be, and will hope for the best.

For what it's worth, I used the Hardie's stuff sparingly, and massaged the bag thoroughly. When I hung it to dry with its neck pointing down, very little excess solution dribbled out.

Cheers,
Mick