Chiff and Fipple Forums

A friend is wanting to sell his Woof B full set. These rarely become available. I am posting this here for him as he is not on the web much. It is ebony, mounted in mammoth ivory and nickel silver, fully reeded and playing. He is offering it for $22,000 but may be open to offers. Pictures will be av...

You can make a mixture of one part melted beeswax mixed with four parts lard or Crisco. Allow to cool and roll some worms of it. I use bamboo skewers to apply the worms to the inside where the leaks are where the leather meets the paddles. Use a heat gun or blow dryer and blow hot air into the intak...

For localized leaks, you can melt 5 parts lard with one part beeswax together and allow to cool. Make a worm of the mix and apply to the inside of the bellows where the leaks are with a chop stick or similar. Heat an oven to 130 degrees F. Turn off the oven and place the bellows inside. When the mix...

I have a large amount of second grade cane tubes from 18mm to 30mm diameter. While my select grade tubes are generally straight and mostly round, they differ from the second grade by being mostly free of grey mold. There may be some mold on my select tubes but the area where the scrape will be will ...

I have a student who just started on uilleann pipes but is a Grade 2 GHB piper. He was doing the same thing as you Richard and was trying to hold the chanter vertical. This is common for pipers coming from GHB. I got him to tilt the chanter about 45 degrees and to slant his top hand fingers as you w...

It must be out by now. How did the reed get into the wrong end? Reminds me of a kid putting beans in his ears.

Kelleher makes a smaller bellows. They are efficient and inexpensive.

I find very little useful from oboe or bassoon reed making instructions. They are entirely different animals and the few similarities aren't worth much.

In uilleann pipes, I prefer the sound of cane reeds. The manufactured reeds run the gamut from bad to quite good sounding. Most pro pipers in Ireland use cane reeds. They are only a pain if you don't know how to adjust and work with them. Paddy Keenan, for one, travels the world and plays cane reeds...

The pipes themselves sound fine live. This is a bad recording which does not make anyone want to try them.

The chanter I saw which Fred had voiced is well done; good tuning and tone. It is a very good chanter, better than many made by some full time makers. As to two craftsmen making pipes, one need only look at K&Q uilleann pipes. David Quinn does the turning etc. while Benedict Koehler does the ree...

Many uilleann pipes are copies of other instruments, antique or modern. Fred does the tuning and voicing, so I feel that naming them after him is not a bad idea. The turning and manufacture is done by a reputable GHB maker who does a good job of that part. Martin Gallen is making reeds but the criti...

When a chanter is copied, I find a reed that works well in the original is best to voice the copy. That is simple enough. Many chanters have been attempted that are not copies. With hobby shop tubing available, many makers wanted to use it for staples and tried to voice and tune their efforts with a...

I doubt they will be mass produced. They may make a couple of sets ahead of orders, but chances are there will be a wait for them. I know of a couple of UP makers who do the mechanics of making pipes, while someone else does the reeding, tuning and voicing. As GHB makers, they will probably be well ...

The study showing higher levels of aluminum in the brains of folks who died of Alzheimer's was done years ago. The doctor who did the study said that it does not prove a link between aluminum and the condition, only that folks with Alzheimer's for some reason deposit more aluminum in their tissues. ...