Rush

[karl]

Hi. Can someone explain to me what a rush is? I keep hearing it mentioned when I read Uilleann stuff. Thank you.

[Mr.Gumby]

Rushes grow in wet fields. They can be inserted into the bores of chanters and regulators I have seen Liam O Flynn take a fair rush out of his bass drone once but using them in drones is not a common practice) to locally narrow the bore for the purpose of tuning separate notes.

These days 'rush' often isn't the actual traditional material but has become a nomer for anything you can stick up a chanter: wire with or without blobs of bluetac attached, strimmer line, guitar strings (some chanters come with these designed into them, a good topic for discussion always), strips of cane or timber, pieces of copper and what have you. Anything that does the job.

Alternatively the term may refer to a condition a lot of pipers sound like they find themselves in.

[karl]

Thanks Mr Gumby. So in a nutshell anything a stick up the chanter to tune it. Can you explain how you do this with a guitar string? Is it left dangling inside the bore, or is a small piece of the string cut off and bent into a circle to narrow the bore? And how do you use it to tune? For example, if my F# is too sharp what do you do with the guitar string? Lots of questions I know!

[Paul Reid]

A band from Canada.

[PJ]

Can you explain how you do this with a guitar string? Is it left dangling inside the bore, or is a small piece of the string cut off and bent into a circle to narrow the bore? And how do you use it to tune?

Essentially, yes. But you have to know where to place the string to have the best effect.

For example, if my F# is too sharp what do you do with the guitar string? Lots of questions I know!

One problem with rushes, is that they tend to flatten all notes below them. So if your F# is too sharp but you E and bottom D are fine, a rush may not be the best option - a bit of tape on the F hole would be better.

But if you want to put in a rush, measure the length of the wire (or guitar string) so that, with the bend, it goes from the bell of the chanter to a little beyond the F# hole. Then insert the rush into the bore and play the chanter to check how the tuning sounds.

[mayo_piper]

good stuff PJ, as usual.

Nicely done.

[rorybbellows]

Theres no substitute for first hand experience and because the procedure is totally reversable you should experiment for yourself. With care stick long thin stuff up the chanter and see how it affects the tuning.

RORY

[karl]

Thanks guys, I think I understand it now