popping straps... Are they essential?

[emer]

I don't think Ronan Browne uses one?

[tommykleen]

I pretty much gave up on the old praiscín a few years ago. However, I have found that I need one when I play a D chanter while wearing sweatpants: do not need one when playing a C chanter in sweatpants. Something to do with the higher velocity/volume chanter I think. Occassionally I need a strap when playing in dress slacks 'cos I can get this fold of fabric that goes right up the thigh where the chanter seats.. I may start using something when that day comes that I am "all over the regs" just to eliminate one more variable.

t

[Brazenkane]

The Piper's Eleventh Finger. Unless you wear short, short skirts or leather pants, you shouldn't be without them.

Peter- you forgot if your stuck in the sub tropics and you're wearing shorts!
If you get real picky, not that a piper would RIGHT?!...but a swatch of leather (a finished piece not raw stuff w/ the wee bit of fur on it) MIGHT give any sound coming directly out of the bell some more reflection, as oposed to cloth or flesh.

I think I notice a diff. in that regard, but being w/ whorts 90 % of the time...I'm not using a popping strap. Also I remember Gay to have said something similar to that in a most simple fashion i.e. "it sounds better.."

[Uilliam]

The popping strap is more than just a seal!It is called a pipers apron for a good reason.Most popping straps today are miserable little scraps of leather neatly tied around th leg,right...wrang!!Get a good size piece o leather say 12"x12" and let it drape over the leg,quite apart from helping to make a better seal it can help the harmonics tremendously by utilising the longer piece when the chanter is off the knee.
eg Play the drones in the middle of the room,then go to a corner and play the drones into a corner(creating a sound box) and listen to the difference,well it is the same with a proper Pipers Apron! when ye play the chanter into the apron
Uilliam

[An píobaire fánach]

From my (very limited) experience, the wear-and-tear on bare legs (I wear shorts most of the time) is murder, and a piece of leather is essential to keeping my skin!

[beckitybek]

Well I can't manage without one. I have been known on the odd occasion to lose my favourite one and be obsessively engrossed with finding it before being able to carry on (might have been something to do with the B&C's consumed too)

[John Mulhern]

Get a good size piece o leather say 12"x12" and let it drape over the leg,quite apart from helping to make a better seal it can help the harmonics tremendously by utilising the longer piece when the chanter is off the knee.

Do you have a thickness recommendation, Bill?...how much flexability? chamois ok?

[Patrick D'Arcy]

I've had good luck with leather rectangles sold at craft supply stores. The one nearest me is called "Michael's" and is a chain in the US. They come in a variety of colours and last a lifetime. They measure about 12"x10" or there abouts and are thick enough not to crease under the chanter creating the chance for a poor seal.

PD.

[Joseph E. Smith]

I've had good luck with leather rectangles sold at craft supply stores. The one nearest me is called "Michael's" and is a chain in the US. They come in a variety of colours and last a lifetime. They measure about 12"x10" or there abouts and are thick enough not to crease under the chanter creating the chance for a poor seal.

PD.

Michael's is a good place. Where ever you go, don't go to Tandy Leather, as they will charge you an arm and a leg for scrap leather.

[John Mulhern]

Thank's, Patrick!...there's a Michael's a couple block's away & I wouldn't have thought of it.

[Lorenzo]

I seldom used a popping with my wide bore D chanter, and never noticed much difference whan I did use one. But, with the B chanter, in order to know when my finger stretch was just right, and no toneholes leaking, I found a popping strap essential. I use it all the time now with B chanter. I find it's better in every way.

For leather sources, don't forget about old purses at 2nd hand stores.

[eric_smith]

I seldom used a popping with my wide bore D chanter, and never noticed much difference whan I did use one. But, with the B chanter, in order to know when my finger stretch was just right, and no toneholes leaking, I found a popping strap essential. I use it all the time now with B chanter. I find it's better in every way.
.

I second this. I never used one when playing concert pitch, and didn't notice the absence, but when I went flat, it made a big difference in my ability to control the articulation of the notes.

It feels weird to play without it now.

[Lorenzo]

In fact, when I'm through playing, I've formed the habit of placing the chanter along side the drones and wrapping the leather strap around this unit of sticks, just below the mainstock, and then carrying the set that way. It keeps the chanter from getting separated or falling off. This ½ B set is as light as a feather.

[AlanB]

,,

[lundblad]

For me it just is the way of not letting the drones slide down my leg. The leather is like a drone stopping strap..hehe...thank god for guinness tonight....