Piper has water on the brain

boyd · Post by **boyd** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 8:11 am

Just got a hygrometer, which has confirmed my suspicion that despite living in a country renowned for being significantly wetter than Ireland, I'm actually in a very dry part.

Pipers who've come over from Ireland have had trouble with their instruments one way or another.

My wee meter says we've got 33% humidity just now, and says it's "dry".

There's a few inches of snow on the ground, my hands are dry and gripless, and the air feels dry in my nose.
And my chanter reed is lighter to play and maybe tending towards sharpness.

Hope it rains soon!!

Boyd

"I don't care how dry it is in the Americas" :roll:

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 8:20 am

Time to go shopping...

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 8:43 am

Hi Boyd,

I don't care about starting up another flame war here - just a suggestion. If the hygrometer you've purchased is the small round analog type the readings it will give you can be highly skewed. In many cases, the same model of hygrometer placed side by side can vary by as much as 50% rh. There is supposed to be a means of "calibrating" the thing by wrapping it in a wet towel and leaving it sit for 24 hours, yet even so you may not find reliable readings.

Still you sound dryer than you were. Best of luck keeping everything going.

boyd · Post by **boyd** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:01 am

I can increase the humidity reading rapidly by exhaling several times on the sensor, so it seems to be reasonably responsive.

[analagous to blowing into a chanter to moisten the reed....done when trying to diagnose why a reed is not playing true]

Boyd

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:14 am

Boyd, you're absolutely right there - I have no doubt it responds to change. My question was to it's accuracy. Even some of the cheap digitals aren't worth much. They can swing all over the place as well. Not trying to say it isn't dry there - only that the readings you can get off those little analoge meters are almost always skewed and unreliable. Sad really...they would be a highly useful means of watching the rh levels in a localized spot easily over time otherwise.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:31 pm

I don't know how to discuss relative humidity (as opposed to any other kind), but here's how I see it: snow tells the tale. Snow=water. Frozen water=snow=all that humidity locked up. Hence, it's dry. Where there's snow, it's generally arid, unless the temp goes above freezing and the water can start moving more freely again, and so the humidity rises. Very scientific.

Here in MPLS, it's somewhere in the 'teens Fahrenheit, and the insides of my nose feels like cardboard. In the summer, this area can be just as muggy as you please; all those lakes, you know. But once things freeze, the humidity is GONE. Probably only a seaside location would be able to avoid below-freezing winter aridity.

Patrick D'Arcy · Post by **Patrick D'Arcy** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:54 pm

Avoid the humidifiers with fans. I found when getting into this that they can be tuned to a different pitch to your drones.... weird I know, but true. The best type to get, and worth holding out for, are the ultrasonic type. Mine is a Sunbeam (I think) Here's a link to one that's available on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... nnpipesobs

It helps me tremendously in California. Allows me to play at home any month of the year.

Good luck,

Patrick.

Kevin Popejoy · Post by **Kevin Popejoy** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 1:54 pm

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 2:36 pm

This type of system is more and more common here as well. It has been installed in just about every concert hall I've played in the area. It's nice in that it really is a set and forget type of system. The humidity doesn't change much at all unless you're right next to an hvac vent. Great stuff.

boyd · Post by **boyd** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 4:56 pm

see below..............

boyd · Post by **boyd** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 4:57 pm

I can get my pipes up to 45% humidity with a damp cloth kept in the case...takes a few days at least to dry out...have been doing that for a couple of years now. That way the pipes take an hour at least to go "dry" when playing in dry conditions.

A mate told me he had to play a gig in Hong Kong and the weather was actually very dry at that time...the pipes went off completely, and he began to despair [was to be playing with an orchestra....big gig].
He went back to his hotel room, turned on the shower for 35mins with the pipes in the same room, and after that they played great again.

Boyd

WET WET WET
Love is all around me
I feel it everywhere

The Sporting Pitchfork · Mon Feb 09, 2004 10:35 pm

Patrick D'Arcy wrote:Mine is a Sunbeam (I think) .

Jesus wanted me for a Sunbeam once. I never realized I radiated so much moisture...

AlanB · Post by **AlanB** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 3:51 am

boyd wrote:I can get my pipes up to 45% humidity with a damp cloth kept in the case...takes a few days at least to dry out...have been doing that for a couple of years now. That way the pipes take an hour at least to go "dry" when playing in dry conditions.

A mate told me he had to play a gig in Hong Kong and the weather was actually very dry at that time...the pipes went off completely, and he began to despair [was to be playing with an orchestra....big gig].
He went back to his hotel room, turned on the shower for 35mins with the pipes in the same room, and after that they played great again.

Boyd

WET WET WET
Love is all around me
I feel it everywhere

One time I visited Pete Hunter, he gave me a go of the remarkable old set of his. But, he was so finicky about it's playability, he left them on the Kitchen table for 20 mins or so with the gas cooker on with 3 or 4 rings. I never could tell with Pete whether he was having a bit of a wind up or that his genius truly was genius, but it made sense.

Finland in winter has been the worst place for me re: reed problems. Central heating and saunas inside, dry snow everywhere outside.....

Alan

Thies · Post by **Thies** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 2:00 am

AlanB wrote: Finland in winter has been the worst place for me re: reed problems. Central heating and saunas inside, dry snow everywhere outside.....Alan

... you forgot to mention the -20 to -30 degrees Celsius that are currently around here ... snow depth is about 75 cm.
But sauna gives some moisture to your flat even though you can't have it on and put water on the stones 24/7 ... that's just something for the hard-core Finns.

It is really bad here: one drone stock seemed to have a very slight crack in the wood when I got the set and 2 weeks later it was 2 mm wide and it could have been burnt in the sauna stove because it was not airtight anymore. All the wood shrinks during winter and you have to correct the bindings ... but during summer they are too tight again and so you have to take of some hemp again.

I think that I will really go for a humidifier and try at least to keep my "music room" a more suitable biotope/habitat for my pipes.

Royce · Post by **Royce** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 9:23 pm

Thies wrote:
AlanB wrote: Finland in winter has been the worst place for me re: reed problems. Central heating and saunas inside, dry snow everywhere outside.....Alan
... you forgot to mention the -20 to -30 degrees Celsius that are currently around here ... snow depth is about 75 cm.

We're nearly out of the worst of that sort of weather here in Minnesota, but just remember that even though we use different scales to measure cold, we all agree that 40 below is 40 below.

Royce