Na Píobairí Uilleann

Chairman, NPU

An Píobaire

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7 1 27 20110224 27 of somehow installing B and A drones, the bass regulator has these notes just waiting to be pressed (as it were) into service. If one could only hold one of these keys open – drone like – then one could have a B or A foundation upon which to build. Examples (rough as they may be) of open bass reg tones used in this fashion may be found at the following locations on the web: “An Raibh Tú ag an gCarraig” (B reg “drone”) http://www.box.net/shared/93czj9vpag “Airde Cuan” http://www.box.net/shared/accb1h56uu “Trathánn an Taoide” http://www.box.net/shared/1bfzg0qkar The obvious and most at-hand tool for the pur- pose of “dronifying” the bass reg would be a rub- ber band slid over a key to hold it open. However, I have a great deal of respect (and awe) for the design and execution of my pipes (originally hammered out in the Taylor Bros. pipes and contemporarily executed by Messrs. Koehler and Quinn) and am disinclined to start laying on the rubber bands out of respect for their work. Rubber bands might also suggest to the uninitiated that the springs on my reg keys are weak, and need rubber bands to keep them shut, which is far from the truth. Also, more invasive measures on the pipes were right out. Any “hack” I tried had to be non-harming and easily reversible. My embryonic efforts at unobtrusively opening the two bass reg keys focused on running some sort of shaft alongside the bass reg–in the space between that reg and the baritone reg– that would allow for some sort of attachment to hold down a key. The addition of a shaft was accom- modated by a small triangular void that is pres- ent where the bass regulator plate attaches to the mainstock. This space allows for the snug inser- tion of 3/16" hobby tubing or rod. A series of right angles (with a 90°rotation in there) in the rod creates a lever that can be extended, rotated and retracted (along the plane of the shaft) such that the free end may clamp down on a chosen regulator key. This concept worked somewhat, but you are left with a clunky angled end of the rod sticking up into the functional plane of the regulator keys. Other issues with this setup in- clude the inevitability of friction of the rod in its little triangular space lessening with use, and the strength of the reg spring would overcome the ability of the bent rod to hold the key down. I further modified this first concept by cannibal- izing two sections of a telescoping dental mirror and substituting this for the brass rod. On the end of the telescoping piece I attached an eye screw which hooked a pliant O ring to make a snare. This snare could be extended and retracted to capture either B or A reg key. Simple, non-dam- aging and unobtrusive. Voila!…or was it? Prob- lems with this prototype became obvious any time I tried to engage or disengage the snare with speed. It was just too hard to fish out that lit- tle-bugger-of-an O-ring from between the regu- lators. I also succeeded in shearing off the cork pad under the B key with this gizmo. Not cool! I turned my next efforts away from the discrete little glideway between the regs. In a brain- storming session with my good friend/accordion player/automotive tinkerer John Mc Cormick he suggested that I fashion some sort of hook that serves as a both a regulator key pin and a clamp.

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