Hi......
Anyone care to weigh in on bellows from Kelleher?
I play a Rogge set and was looking for something a bit more...capacious (?).
Workmanship on their site appears superb, but would appreciate any comments or opinions.
Thank you
Shameless
Kelleher bellows info
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geoff wooff
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Re: Kelleher bellows info
I have been making bellows for 40+ years and know well what constitutes a good one.
I bought one of Kelleher's small bellows, just to see what the quality was like and perhaps to offer them to my customers as an alternative. It is very airtight and nicely made. The inlet valve is a little restrictive but that may be because it is designed to work left or right handed without modifcation. Bill Haneman says he makes a slight change to the inlet valve and all flows correctly. Nice screw in outlet tube and good quality materials.
Great value for money!
I bought one of Kelleher's small bellows, just to see what the quality was like and perhaps to offer them to my customers as an alternative. It is very airtight and nicely made. The inlet valve is a little restrictive but that may be because it is designed to work left or right handed without modifcation. Bill Haneman says he makes a slight change to the inlet valve and all flows correctly. Nice screw in outlet tube and good quality materials.
Great value for money!
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billh
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Re: Kelleher bellows info
I provide Kelleher bellows to all of my customers now. Unless they want to pay double for a stitched one... and even then I encourage them to go with the small Kelleher model.
Kelleher offers two models - the usual offering on the web site is the “full sized” model which is plenty big, a bit oversized for my taste. I find the “small” model big enough for a full set. Preferences vary, of course, but Rogge bellows are themselves not small. Seámie I would wonder what you hope to achieve by going bigger? The Kelleher bellows will not be significantly larger.
But as Geoff says, it is an extremely well made bellows, very reliable and the finish is beautiful. I usually replace the inlet valve because I think it’s aesthetically the weak point (being black delrin or similar, because the rest of the bellows is so flawlessly finished), but it works fine as provided. Kelleher attaches the robust leather flap with a small screw on the inside; at one time they added a drop of contact cement as well, which is probably overkill. I remove the glue and reattach the valve if it doesn’t seem free enough. You can also score the leather lightly just below the screw. Again, preferences vary as to how free this flap should be; as for handed-ness, almost any valve can be rotated 180 degrees for the left handed player.
As Geoff says, excellent value for money.
Kelleher offers two models - the usual offering on the web site is the “full sized” model which is plenty big, a bit oversized for my taste. I find the “small” model big enough for a full set. Preferences vary, of course, but Rogge bellows are themselves not small. Seámie I would wonder what you hope to achieve by going bigger? The Kelleher bellows will not be significantly larger.
But as Geoff says, it is an extremely well made bellows, very reliable and the finish is beautiful. I usually replace the inlet valve because I think it’s aesthetically the weak point (being black delrin or similar, because the rest of the bellows is so flawlessly finished), but it works fine as provided. Kelleher attaches the robust leather flap with a small screw on the inside; at one time they added a drop of contact cement as well, which is probably overkill. I remove the glue and reattach the valve if it doesn’t seem free enough. You can also score the leather lightly just below the screw. Again, preferences vary as to how free this flap should be; as for handed-ness, almost any valve can be rotated 180 degrees for the left handed player.
As Geoff says, excellent value for money.
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Seamie
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Re: Kelleher bellows info
Gentlemen, thank both for your excellent comments & insights.
Bill- I went back to my (beautiful,excellent & airtight) Rogge bellows after having played a Dow for years and I just seem to be working way too hard- thinking about my right elbow too much. As you know, you can power a coal-fired steam engine with one of Mike's bellows, so maybe I'm just chasing my tail here and just have to re-acclimate (no easy thing for a block-head from Maigh-Eo)
Thank you again for your thoughts
Bill- I went back to my (beautiful,excellent & airtight) Rogge bellows after having played a Dow for years and I just seem to be working way too hard- thinking about my right elbow too much. As you know, you can power a coal-fired steam engine with one of Mike's bellows, so maybe I'm just chasing my tail here and just have to re-acclimate (no easy thing for a block-head from Maigh-Eo)
Thank you again for your thoughts