I put them together (everything looked in order) and tried playing: nothing. No sound, just rushing air. It felt as if I was having to pump the bellows a ridiculous number of times just to inflate the bag. So I took off the stock, plugged up, and tried just the chanter. I did get some notes but extremely weak and thin, and the low D and C were almost impossible. I thought that maybe the air travel had opened all the reeds, so I pulled them and tried sucking on the ends. All gave a squeak excepting the bass drone. I then blew into the bag intake by mouth, and it would not hold any air; it just made this very odd, deep sound like a duck call. Something is definitely flopping around in there. Could the valve being bad be the cause of all the troubles. or is it likely to be a combination of a bad valve AND bad reeds? Is there any way to pull the intake from the bag to have a look at the valve? Does it even HAVE a valve inside? I tried to remove it (gently) and it did not feel as if it wanted to budge; the wooden connection did rotate quite freely however. I have put on a humidifier in the room to see if that helps any, but the rushing air problem seems to be much too big to merely be a humidity drop.
I knew these types of pipes were notoriously finicky, but I was hoping to at least be able to start learning right out of the blocks. Any help would be deeply appreciated.
Robert Mouland
www.wireharp.com
Don't worry. I'm sure help is on the way. (Best stay in doors---others have reported being attacked by geese.)
