Anyone else having problems with the weather?

Ailin · Post by **Ailin** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 6:18 pm

Here in the NE U.S., specifically western New York state, it has rained for most of July and, so far, August. One day my pipes play hard, harsh and a bit loud. Literally overnight they go to the other extreme of playing a bit quiet, oversensitive and easily jump octave. Needless to say it tends to throw off my playing and gets a tad frustrating to keep adjusting so often. On the days when the humidity is reasonable and the weather is fairly nice the pipes play great, but when the humidity is constantly bouncing up to 90%+ and the air pressure jumps from low to high and vice versa every other day like it has been for about the last 1-1/2 months it gets almost maddening.

If any of you are having the same problem with the weather this year,
and constantly adjusting to it, how is it going and what measures are you taking to deal with it?

Ailin

fancypiper · Post by **fancypiper** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 6:27 pm

My pipes are unhappy when not in my living room....

Perhaps this may shed some light on weather and reeds..

Ailin · Post by **Ailin** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 6:38 pm

fancypiper.....that's great...I'll have to save that one!
It's good for laughs while having a lot of truth in it.

And I agree with the last line, b/c regardless of the problems I'll keep right on playing and enjoying myself anyway!

Piping Bulldog · Post by **Piping Bulldog** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 7:15 pm

I also reside in NY, but down on Long Island where the weather is even moister, damper, wetter, etc. I too have had the limits of my patience tested and have no idea how the pipes will behave when I pick them up. I find my practice sessions go better when I concentrate on playing, and not trying to make my pipes sound "perfect". Soon enough the weather will change and the pipes will sing. Just my thoughts.

fel bautista · Post by **fel bautista** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 8:43 pm

move to southern california and experience mostly dry weather... ARG!! Did I mention the So Cal tionol in October??

Had to, sorry Larry

Juan Pablo Plata · Post by **Juan Pablo Plata** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 10:02 pm

Andalucia, Spain. My pipes simply don´t play in summer. 40-45ºC and dry air. And I say dry.

djm · Post by **djm** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 10:48 pm

Ailin, sounds perfectly normal to me, except the weather here changes back and forth all year long, not just in summer. Grin and bear it.

djm

GELivesay · Post by **GELivesay** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 5:58 am

I was recently at the East Durham festival in July and I have never experienced the rapid changes in the way my pipes play. In the morning they were absolutely great, by afternoon class I could hardly keep them going , the reed opened and air was leaving the pipes as quickly as I could inject it. I had to "pinch" the reed at least a couple of times in the afternoon classes to keep the pipes playing.

I live in Middle Georgia where it is almost always hot and humid. I have found that if I can keep the humidity to ~50% level in the case and play in about 76- 78 deg air conditioned room, they are great sounding. I never play outside on purpose. It is too hot/humid for outdoor enjoyment.

My 2 cents

jqpublick · Post by **jqpublick** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 8:13 am

The weather here has been most unkind. Tons of rain, good sunshine with high temperatures, then a quick, bracing plummet into single digit degrees prior to sweeping back up the CTH (Clearly Too Hot) scale. Needless to say, the reed has been a little schizophrenic. (Hearing voices, seeing Seamus Ennis, bursting into hysterical tears when I disappoint it by not being He.)

Like Alain and DJM, I'm stuck in a place that's normally much much dryer than it is right now (right D?) and the humidity, while wonderful for trees, plants, small children and dog poo (re: freshness, brightness of colour, etc), does not seem to be agreeing too well with my reed right now. It drives me nuts to be caught between my natural instincts to toy with the reed and the wisdom in Liam O'Flynn's method (remove reed, stare intently, replace reed).

I imagine it'll just start getting used to the increased humidity when howling northern winds will suck the humidity up and transmogrify it into ice shards that plink nicely off my eyeballs at only slightly sub-orbital speeds. At this point, my reed will close up so tight that three strong men, some pliers and a blast furnace will be required to get the thing to make even a tiny noise, which hopefully won't be it's death knell. But by then I'll have a new set (God, the Banks and my Boss willing) and an entirely new group of reeds to struggle with. Ah, life is good.

Mark

djm · Post by **djm** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 8:21 am

Summers normally tend toward hot, hazy and humid, with afternoon thunderstorms to relieve the misery every day. The last couple of years have been pretty wonky. This weekend has been incredibly good for August: cool dry air, highs in the low twenties.

Once I get my reedmaking skills up to snuff (if ever) I am thinking about the neatsfoot oil trick to see if that's what is needed, but you have to have lots of spare reeds lying around to be able to afford to muck about with that sort of thing.

djm

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 8:27 am

I guess I am really lucky. Living in central Florida isn't a charming existance by any account, except for one thing.... reed friendly climate. Even the winter seems to leave my reeds alone for the most part. Sure there is always going to be the seasonal adjustment, but not of the variety I am reading the majority of you folk are going through.

The only time I recall having a problem was when the temp got down to 40 degress F. My bass drone reed refused to work, so I replaced it with a synthetic one and it's not been a problem since.

So I guess you all will have to move to central Florida. It'll be great, and I could use the extra company.