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Píobaire, An, Volume 8, Issue 4, Page 25

Píobaire, An, Volume 8, Issue 4, Page 25
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periodical Publisher
Na Píobairí Uilleann
periodical Editor
Chairman, NPU
periodical Title
An Píobaire
volume Number
4
issue Content
Píobaire, An 8 4 25 20120927 25 “hemp”) of a nice weight for uilleann pipes. It is made by Coates-Barbour. I hope they can source the same product in undyed white. I will be sending NPU some unwaxed rolls of cannabis hemp for sale in the near future. A couple of times a year, I take apart my set of pipes to check for leaks. A set of pipes should be absolutely air-tight. This requires the use of a set of corks or rubber stoppers. I cork off the chanter stock, main-stock and air supply stock in the bag. Removing the chanter stock cork I blow up the bag and replace the cork. I squeeze the bag. It should not deflate at all, even very slowly. I do the same with the bellows. If they are air-tight, I add the flapper valve to the bel- lows and blow-pipe with flapper to the bag and pressure test. There must be no leaks from these valves. The chanter head can be corked at the chanter end and blown into the other end. I have found leaks at the top mount more than once. If the mount seems snug, beeswax can be dropped onto the inside of the mount, melted with a hair dryer and blown into the gap to stop the leak. The bass regulator bar end cap should be pressurized and checked, as a leak can occur at the mount. The bass drone has a few places where leaks can occur. Beeswax may cure smaller leaks here. The slider can be checked separately from the reed end. The regulators should be checked for leaks at the key pads and end caps, especially around the tuning pins. The chanter key pads should be pressurized and checked for leaks. The drone shut off switch should be checked by putting the main-stock with all exit holes corked off, into the airtight and corked bag and applying pressure. Cork grease may be adequate to stop leaks here and at tuning pins. You may find a leak where the bass regulator bar attaches to the stock. Leaks can be found around screws and even out of round sockets in the stocks. A stock may be leaking at a crack in it. Any leak at all produces intonation and playing problems with a set of pipes. I have often found more than one air leak in a brand new set of pipes. I am indebted to Denis Brooks for the follow- ing from his “The Tutor” for the Irish Union Pipes. A leaky bag can be made airtight by a melted mixture of lard (or Crisco) and beeswax at a 4:1 ratio. If a leak is along the seam, a rolled up worm of this mix can be placed at the leak on the inside of the bag (or bellows), the worm melted with a hair dryer and the corked bag (or bellows) pressurized to force the mix into the leak. The bellows uses a 5:1 ratio of lard and beeswax and the same technique used to seal it. This is also a good sealant at the drone shut off rod if a thicker product is needed. A larger amount can seal up leaks through the porous leather in bag or bellows. The inside of the leather should be coated with the melted mix- ture, with the excess removed. You can re-melt the excess with a hair dryer, if needed to facil- itate the removal of the excess. Some use liquid latex for this job. It would be good to know if any treatment was used previously, as some treatments don’t work well with others. Avoid any mixture containing neat’s-foot oil. It will eventually bleed through the bag or bellows and make a mess of your clothes. Adjustments to the amount of hemp on the joints can be made as you reassemble the pipes. A light amount of bore oil may be ap- plied when the pipes are apart. I recommend “Doctor’s Bore Oil”, available on the web. This is optional. Don’t be too surprised if your pipes play better after this maintenance. For making a drone reed, I use a special sealing wax to add ballast to the tongue and seal the end of the reed. I use dop wax, a very sticky wax for mounting gem crystals on a “dop stick”, so the gem can be faceted. I melt it with an alco- hol (spirit) lamp and apply it to the reed. It is less brittle and grips better than normal sealing wax. You can re-melt the surface over the lamp to give it an even, shiny surface. Excess weight on a tongue can be removed with a file or sand- paper. The NPU store has this item for sale.
issue Number
8
page Number
25
periodical Author
[Periodical]
issue Publication Date
2012-09-21T00:00:00
allowedRoles
anonymous,guest,friend,member

An Píobaire, Volume 8, Issue 4

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