humidity during winter

lundblad · Post by **lundblad** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 8:20 am

Have had some troublesome weeks when my chanter reeds have been playing like shighte. Have tried everything (I thought, missing the obvious.) We have had a couple of weeks of very cold weather in Sweden which probably is to blame. Indoor humidity is extremely low. Today I just wrapped a watered towel around the chanter top and after a couple of hours it played like a dream. Responsive back D and good through both octaves with a great hard bottom D as well. It is a D. Daye Pennychanter and his reeds (in my opinion) is very stable and has been for 2 years now. Just nice to let you all know that I found the perfect remedy for my reeds at least. Hopefully this will last til Paddys day next Thursday. Have been a bit worried actually.

fiddlinviolinin · Post by **fiddlinviolinin** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 9:52 am

A stupid question, but would a humidifier work for the pipes? [The ones used for violins, viola, celli, etc..]

Cheers,
Armand

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 10:07 am

Humidity? In winter? WHAT humidity?!

...there will be all sorts of opinions and advice from pipers to toss a sponge in your case, or a damp rag in your bellows etc. etc. Personally I've never found this to be a good solution. Just ask Nanohedron what tossing a damp rag into your pipe case can do to a set of pipes....

Nano??

Thies · Post by **Thies** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 11:21 am

Hello to the other side of Fenno-Scandia,
here in the east of Finland (and as in many other places with low temperatures during winter ... and heating running inside) same problems. I solved these with a humidifier that runs in my "music room". I made good experience with the Venta products. You should get them from EL Giganten in Sweden (http://www.elgiganten.se/, search for "Venta"). I ordered mine dirctly from Germany which was a bit cheaper in the end.
Hejdå, Thies

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 2:14 pm

Hi!

Scandinavian winters is a drag for any woodwind but especially for reeds. I have had to give up practise many times this winter, even started to practice in the sauna

Rapid changes in humidity and temperaures from +10 to -30 degrees C.
I had an old flute die on me this year, it survided for 100 years in southern Germany but cracked really bad during its first Swedish winter.

Got this very usefull tip from Par K (ojvoj):
In the morning before you head off for work, put your chanter reed in a small plastic tube, breath into the tube once and close the lid.
By the time you get back home it will be singing like it was May or June.

/MarcusR

tommykleen · Post by **tommykleen** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 7:37 pm

I must recommend strongly that you do not play in a (moist) sauna, or a bathroom/shower room that has loads and loads of humidity in it!

Good way to crack your pipes as the wood will expand rapidly with all the ambient moisture.

I live in a cold/dry climate (The Scandinavia of the US). Eventually your reeds will learn to live where they live. If not, you can put a dampit in your bellows or similar humidity source that gets blown into your pipes from the inside.

t

fiddlinviolinin · Post by **fiddlinviolinin** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 10:08 pm

Question...

What exactly is a dampit? Forgive me if this is a very obvious question ~_~ and if I don't have one, what could I use to substitute?

Cheers,
Armand

uilleannfinlander · Post by **uilleannfinlander** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 2:32 am

Few apples in pipecase , (Diarmaid Moynihan's trick)

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 3:28 pm

tommykleen wrote:I must recommend strongly that you do not play in a (moist) sauna, or a bathroom/shower room that has loads and loads of humidity in it! Good way to crack your pipes as the wood will expand rapidly with all the ambient moisture. t

Thanks for your concern Tommy. But I think its ok as I’m not practicing while taking a sauna.

The thing is at with the all the electric heating on during the winter our house is dry as a desert, and as I don’t heat the sauna part of the house as much (is also better vented) it’s actually an improvement. It’s also sound proof which my wife thinks is a much more important factor.

tommykleen wrote: I live in a cold/dry climate (The Scandinavia of the US). Eventually your reeds will learn to live where they live. If not, you can put a dampit in your bellows or similar humidity source that gets blown into your pipes from the inside.
t

I have been to the south western part Montana a few times and even though it looks much like Scandinavia its still much of an inland climate. One of the main problems here is that we can have drastic and rapid changes in humidity even during the winter as we are close to the sea. I would pay quite a lot for a good sounding synthetic chanter reed. Or if I can't get the reeds to adopt maybe I should change to a set of scandinavian pipes
like these:

Cheers!

/MarcusR

Jim McGuire · Post by **Jim McGuire** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 3:41 pm

Dampit
http://search.ebay.com/dampit_W0QQsojsZ1QQfromZR40

Thies · Post by **Thies** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 4:19 pm

MarcusR wrote: [...] Or if I can't get the reeds to adopt maybe I should change to a set of scandinavian pipes
like these:

Really nice set of säckpipa, Marcus! Is this made by Alban? His "Northern Uilleann Pipe"?
Cheers, Thies

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:04 pm

Thies wrote: Really nice set of säckpipa, Marcus! Is this made by Alban? His "Northern Uilleann Pipe"?
Cheers, Thies

Yes, you are spot on Theis

Dalslands pipa (or Northern Uilleann Pipe) made by Alban Faust.
I especially like the set above made in masur-birch which gives it a nice stainy coloring (masur is a sort of genetic defects and I dont have a clue about what call it in english). Everytime I look at his pics I feel really bad for not playing one of his sets. I was about to get a set when ojvoj tricked me into the UP stuff. But one of these days ...

Here is another nice set in Boxwood from his website:

Time 4 bed, N8!

/marcusR

FredrikN · Post by **FredrikN** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:10 am

Ok, I know, it's quite late to get into this discussion now, but I most: the pipe on the picture is NOT a Dalslandspipa, it's a set of bellowblown Swedish (Dalecarlian) bagpipes. The difference is indeed very big, because the Dalslandspipa is more "continental European" and is inspired by French and German pipes with conical chanter, and as You know the Swedish "säckpipa" has a cylindrical chanter, and it is much more quiet than the Dalslandpipa.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:45 am

I feel for you guys... currently, it's rainy season in Miami and my air conditioner is pulling more that 5 gallons of water from the air each day.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Fri May 06, 2005 6:00 am

Tony wrote:I feel for you guys... currently, it's rainy season in Miami and my air conditioner is pulling more that 5 gallons of water from the air each day.

I am sooooooo with you on that one... the air around my neck of the woods almost requires one to grow gills.

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