Where do you keep your pipes?

[CHasR]

I hate taking the pipes apart, built a 4 foot long case so I wouldn't have to break them down all the time.

who dosent hate taking their pipes apart? before the viola case, i used to use a trombone gig bag. The bell-end held uilleann bellows nicely, and the slide compartment was rigid enough to provide safety for the bass drone....but, the social stigma was simply unbearable.

At least, with a viola case, there;s a chance people might think its a violin. All bottom of the barrell compared to the Uilleann pipes, but at least its not like walking around with a guitar case. (hanging guitars make great dartboards, btw )

[Jeff Cullen]

Taylor Guitars (the company) recommends storing guitars in their cases to protect against swings in temperature and humidity... and they recommmend not storing them on a stand or by hanging them. I'm guilty of leaving my pipes sitting covered on a table in the music room because I'm often lazy (or working 15+ hours a day), but I'm sure the best storage is in the case with a humidifier. BTW...learned the hard way what you don't put your tuner (for those of you who play along with other instruments and need to be at standard pitch) next to your humidifier in the case. Duh.

[PhilD]

Maybe you should get one of these then Bob!



Its a Plas-Labs temperature and humidity control box. Ultimate protection for your pipes, and, you still get to look at them... You can even touch them with the handy built in gloves. Its a bargain too at $24,000!!


Joking aside, I don't want anyone to get the impression i'm cavalier about protecting my beloved pipes. They are very well looked after and sleep in a long padded semi-soft fishing rod case. I just don't always close the lid!

[Chris Bayley]

To illustrate with an example from some years ago - A certain UK museum has a very nice Musette du Cour by Chedeville that was suspended on 'unbreakable' thread. The curator came in one morning and found it at the bottom of its case where it had all come apart due to the wrappings shrinking. Problem is people think that it is all one solid instrument and only support parts of it. Fortunately in this instant there was no physical damage as it had not dropped far. This was in a carefully controlled environment so a home where humidity and temperature is not controlled the potential for a disaster is much higher.

As Elmek, Chas, PJ, Ted and others say put them away safely in a case.

When playing it might be an idea to keep the dog out of the room as a few years back had to repair a set where the owners dog decided it wanted to jump to his lap whilst he was playing. Snapped the baritone regulator off at the main stock

[Mr.Gumby]

suspended on 'unbreakable' thread.

Seen that done

[bobkeenan]

To illustrate with an example from some years ago - A certain UK museum has a very nice Musette du Cour by Chedeville that was suspended on 'unbreakable' thread. The curator came in one morning and found it at the bottom of its case where it had all come apart due to the wrappings shrinking. Problem is people think that it is all one solid instrument and only support parts of it. Fortunately in this instant there was no physical damage as it had not dropped far. This was in a carefully controlled environment so a home where humidity and temperature is not controlled the potential for a disaster is much higher.

As Elmek, Chas, PJ, Ted and others say put them away safely in a case.

When playing it might be an idea to keep the dog out of the room as a few years back had to repair a set where the owners dog decided it wanted to jump to his lap whilst he was playing. Snapped the baritone regulator off at the main stock

Yes but.... In my home temperature and humidity are controlled ( not like a museum but with a central heat and air with a humidifier). I monitor both with an indoor/ outdoor weather station that tracks temp and humidity on my computer. And..... It is hung horizontally and removed horizontally. Barring a major earthquake ( Portland is on a fault), there is nothing on those pipes that will fall out. Granted that in an earthquake it would survive and my wall hanging would be at risk.........

Some have commented that even though my room is controlled that the case would be much more controlled on temp and humidity. I don't believe that but I will do a little experiment and put the weather station in the case for a day and compare it.

BTW... I love getting advice. But if it does not pass the test of my logic and I think a certain path benefits me I tend to blunder into that path and benefit from my decision or learn the hard way.

[tommykleen]

...and there is the school (theory?) of letting the pipes learn to live where they live. That is: not attempting to maintain constant environmental conditions, but letting the instrument "move" with the local conditions. The idea being that, over time, the swings will be less and less and the instrument will "stabilize" eventually. This has been, more or less, what I do with my gear (within reason), and I am able to play throughout the year. Caveat: the pipes are never, truly, happy in 10º nor 90º humidity. With the former, I use cello and violin dampits (which may offer placebo-grade assurance) and with the later I tend to avoid playing altogether.

I live in the heart of N. America where we get all extremes.

FWIW

[Lorenzo]

When I am playing/practicing regularly, I actually keep my pipes out on a large blanketed coffee table in the master bedroom--which is shared with a bathroom and a sun room (w/hot tub). It's like a little apartment and I keep the door closed. There is no central HVAC system/vent in there so I don't have to worry about heat and forced air changing the humidity in the room (forced air and dry elect heat are incompatible with humidity. Free standing natural gas stoves work best in the winter). In fact, I don't even use a meter to measure the humidity, because after you play the pipes for a few years you'll know if it's right or wrong just by the way the reeds are working. If I want more humidity and easier working reeds, I just lift the lid on the hot tub for a few minutes. Uilleann pipes deserve their own little environment, as far as I'm concerned, if you're looking for the ultimate experience. When out playing for a concert, I'll stick a sponge in the case, inside a zip-loc bag which is left open.

[bobkeenan]

Here is a typical summer in my music room with Central heat and air and a humidifier:



The daily cycles of a few % humidity is because of the effect of the AC (during summer). You can see when the AC started being used as it always starts to get warm here in Portland starting 4 July. The larger cycles (over a week or more) were probably due to wet weather or I kept the room door closed. The week of low readings was probably because I let the humidifier get low on water (a weakness in my method). But despite all that Most of the daily variations are + - 5%. The lowest was 36% and highest was 56% over a 3 month time period.

I will post the effect of the closed case tomorrow as my little weather station is comfortably inside it right now. I will compare that to the previous day without the case. Outside weather is about the same but maybe a little warmer today.

Note that I used to keep a humidor full of cigars in my youth. With the right kind of wetting device you can control humidity in a box to within a few percent. I guess another question is how tight does the humidity bandwidth need to be for it to be OK?

[CHasR]

Here is a typical summer in my music room with Central heat and air and a humidifier:



The daily cycles of a few % humidity is because of the effect of the AC (during summer). You can see when the AC started being used as it always starts to get warm here in Portland starting 4 July. The larger cycles (over a week or more) were probably due to wet weather or I kept the room door closed. The week of low readings was probably because I let the humidifier get low on water (a weakness in my method). But despite all that Most of the daily variations are + - 5%. The lowest was 36% and highest was 56% over a 3 month time period.

I will post the effect of the closed case tomorrow as my little weather station is comfortably inside it right now. I will compare that to the previous day without the case. Outside weather is about the same but maybe a little warmer today.

Note that I used to keep a humidor full of cigars in my youth. With the right kind of wetting device you can control humidity in a box to within a few percent. I guess another question is how tight does the humidity bandwidth need to be for it to be OK?

heh. yaaahh, ya might wanna delete "pipe at some seisuns in Philly" from yer bucket list, Bob. It's a comfy 85% just now. Amazing the difference between 85% & 95%. Oh, its hot too.
I gotta point out, "how one stores ones pipes so they dont get damaged" seems to me a vastly diferent topic from "gettin yer pipe to play half decent in all kindsa cr*ppy situations"

[bobkeenan]

I lived in Sacramento for about 35 years. Where it got to be over 100 F for many days in a row during the summer . I think the humidity was in the teens sometimes. Maybe that's why I could not make the Geoff Wooff practice set work for me. And why my Brad Angus practice set works almost all the time up here in Portland.

[ImNotIrish]

I have to agree with Tommy's post.
I have been leaving my pipes out and around my house. The windows are open and they are subject to the variations in the weather. Yes, there are some reed issues, but nothing so drastic that I cannot play without a slight adjustment. I think this is very informative. Gives me an idea of what and how the reeds are affected. I live in Brooklyn, NYC. It gets fairly humid here in the summer, and with the apt. heat in the winter fairly dry. It may turn out that I have two sets of reeds eventually. For the moment, there are three sets of pipes about the house: one in an open case; one on a small table; and the one laying across the kitchen table. Looks like the aftermath of a pipers' gathering!
Arbo

[irishpiper]

BTW... I love getting advice. But if it does not pass the test of my logic and I think a certain path benefits me I tend to blunder into that path and benefit from my decision or learn the hard way.

So your logic tells you to leave your pipes on a hanger like they're a shirt at a clothing store rather than getting a large case to safely secure your pipes without having to break them down? Ok...

[ennischanter]

In my highland pipes case.

[bobkeenan]

BTW... I love getting advice. But if it does not pass the test of my logic and I think a certain path benefits me I tend to blunder into that path and benefit from my decision or learn the hard way.

So your logic tells you to leave your pipes on a hanger like they're a shirt at a clothing store rather than getting a large case to safely secure your pipes without having to break them down? Ok...

I like to think I am very efficient....more probably lazy. I leave my iphone out, my keys, my tools are on hooks. Any tools I put in a case I tend to not use or forget they are there. I leave my uke and guitar out. All of my penny whistles live in an open bowl. My bodran and small drums are out.

My shoes would last longer if I put in shoe horns and set them in the closet..... I have shoes like that but never wear them.

For me out of sight is out of mind.... and as a kid I NEVER liked to put away my toys. Never!

They only thing I am religious about is I put away my car in the garage, And I lock up my laptop and camera gear (I am a semipro photographer) every night.

So yeah... having my favorite things in open sight gives me pleasure to see them and I get immediate satisfaction from grabbing and playing with them without much set-up.

I think the humidity is NOT a reason in my climate at my house in my music room. Falling or coming apart is not going to happen the way I handle them. Dust could be an issue. AND..... Channing Dodson, my tutor came by today for my lesson.

He did not like the set up either. But he showed me a few things that made sense. I did not realize that you should store your bellows stored with the flapper valve in a closed position. So those will sit on the bookshelf top now. He also said that the way I had the practice bag hung that the chanter stock could come loose and fall down and hit the main set. But rearranging the way I sit my practice set in fixed that. One other comment was that some of the weight of the fullt set was bearing on the tenor drone.

That made me think that maybe for the set.... I should replace the two guitar holders with a padded shelf (with a lip so it won't fall off...) sort of a case without a lid but with lower walls so I can still see the beauty of the set.