54 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
54 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
title: "New Uilleann Pipes"
|
|
date: 2024-11-27
|
|
tags:
|
|
- bagpipes
|
|
- music
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
A few weeks ago, my Uilleann pipes arrived.
|
|
|
|
I ordered them a bit over a year ago, in fall or winter 2023,
|
|
from David Daye.
|
|
He makes pipes from readily-available materials in the United States:
|
|
mostly plumbing equipment.
|
|
I think the only wood on this thing is the bellows.
|
|
|
|
The set was sent as a kit.
|
|
He suggested putting the kit together,
|
|
since the assembly represents a lot of maintenance tasks.
|
|
I'm a fan of this approach:
|
|
it's how the 3D printer came,
|
|
and indeed it helped me understand how everything went together,
|
|
and has made it easier to understand what might need adjusting.
|
|
Unfortunately, I didn't get any kit assembly instructions,
|
|
so I've had to work everything out from the instructions that were sent.
|
|
That's okay!
|
|
I like a challenge!
|
|
|
|
In the last two weeks,
|
|
I've put the bellows together,
|
|
put the chanter together,
|
|
inserted the feed tubes into the bag (one cut was involved),
|
|
tied everything up,
|
|
and spent about 10 days chasing down leaks.
|
|
Today I gave up trying to find the leaks,
|
|
and dunked the whole bag under water,
|
|
to find it's leaking all over the place.
|
|
That's okay!
|
|
It means I need to season the bag with something called
|
|
"Hardie's Airtight Hide Bag Seasoning",
|
|
which is some sort of sticky goo that fills in holes.
|
|
So that will be next.
|
|
|
|
In the meantime,
|
|
I've been learning how to maintain the right amount of bag pressure,
|
|
and how to fill it back up,
|
|
by just playing a held A for minutes at a time.
|
|
When I get bored with that, I'll play a G,
|
|
or sometimes a scale.
|
|
The C♯ is a bit flat,
|
|
and the low D is a bit sharp,
|
|
and the E keeps jumping octaves.
|
|
But I'm already much better than I was when I first started!
|