I was wondering, let’s say you ‘happen’ to use your own lungs to blow into the bag for various reasons. Such as testing the fit of a new blowpipe/chanter-stock or making sure a new decorative cover fits over the bag when it’s inflated.
How long do I have to wait until I can plug in the chanter and go nuts?
Since I’ve blown in it with my mouth there must be moisture inside so I’m afraid the reed will brake/collapse/whatever if I do it too soon.
I’m a wee inpatient since I’ve never tested the whole set yet, even once. So I wanna get started, but don’t want to ruin the reed and halt my uilleann dreams forever!, I’d rather wait a few days.
But how many days? Last time I blew into it was this morning and I’ve removed the blowpipe(valve thingy) and any corks figuring the moisture can escape easier.
Why not just pull the reed & begin blowing ambient air into the bag with the bellow’s? Air heat’s up slightly & dries out as it’s compressed…doesn’t it?
John
…from the land of the compressive, gentle breeze…“the Santa Ana”.
Erhm, does it? I have no idea, will have to take your word for it. But ok, what your saying, I should connect the bellows and let ‘clean’ air flow throu it for a while? Will that really be enough?
Well, chemically speaking, the compressed air might heat up just a bit, but not nearly enough to get rid of any moisture in that air. Another thing, there might be a small chance that the moisture in your breath can break down the seaoning in the bag if you use it (over time of course, not instantaneously). I geuss the best bet would be to connect the bellows and inflate the bag with “dry air”, as depending on the relative humidity, that air will have some moisture in it as well.
So, how long until I can play?
I mean, how much moisture can a reed take anyhow, as you say the “dry air” itselfs containst some moisture, it’s everywhere, but when does it become destructive to a reed (mine is cane.. I think). Is there a way to tell when the moisture in the bag has reached non-fatal levels so to say?
If I just keep pumping in new air with the bellows and letting it slowly escape throu the neck and keep doing that for.. an hour.. should that be enough?
I’m no expert when it comes to reeds yet, but I wouldn’t try testing the limit of the moisture your reed can take. There’s a reason that UP reeds need to be bellows blown, they’re not a big fan of the moisture content of our human breaths. As for testing new bag fittings, it shouldn’t hurt any to inflate the bag by mouth to test for leaks. Just make sure the bag has been emptied of all human air before making the reed accessible to the air supply (better to be safe then sorry i geuss). Well I hope that helps. Best of luck.
I really don’t think you have much to worry about. Yes, reeds are sensitive to moisture, but no soooo sensitive that you should worry about any residual moisture inside your bag after inflating with your lungs. Using your bellows to inflate the bag immediately after blowing lung air into it will help dry it out anyway.
I’ve blown warm lung air into my bag a number of times and then immediately played my chanter with no negative effects.
In fact, whenever I make a new reed, in order to get an indication of whether I’m even close to getting the right tone, ie, just as the reed begins to crow, I’ll often pop it in the chanter and give it a few puffs with my mouth - only VERY briefly mind you, just to get an idea if I’m on track or not. Saves strapping in, strapping on bellows and all that just to check the initial tone. Never been a problem in terms of quality of reed finally produced.
But in the end, if you’re really concerned, just pump some bellows air through for a few minutes should suffice.
I have no prior experience with Uilleann reeds and most of the other time(ghb) plastic reeds were used so me never ever had to think about it.
So yea I guess I’m being a tad over-paranoid/careful, It takes me atleast 30 seconds to remove and insert it from/into the chanter ever careful not to let it touch anything as it will surly crumple like an old dry leaf in my hands
Removed the reed and “air-played” the whole thing for 10-20 minutes, so now I’m hoping that’s enough, gonna take it for a test spin in a few moments, mmm me first “notes”(noise) on a uilleann, yay.
I’m grateful for everyones input, thank you so much!.
I just wanted to ‘pipe’ in and say that I live in Colorado,where the air is very dry and I’ve actually started putting a piece of wet sponge in the top of the chanter, just above the reed. This advice was given to me by my instructor and it has really improved the sound of the reed. Remember, that the pipes were designed to be played in Ireland, where it’s pretty humid. I’ve noticed that my pipes play much better on rainy days than on dry, hot ones. Some reeds play quite well in dry environments, but those are hard to find and if I ever get one, I’m treating it like gold.
I don’t think a reed can really be all that adversely affected by too much moisture and humidity, at least, that’s been my experience. I wouldn’t recommend soaking the reed in water (or Guinness ) though.
I also keep my pipes stored near a humidifier all the time just to keep a consistent environment for them, allthough I don’t think that’s having much of an effect.
So, whatever moisture is in your bag, in my opinion, helps more than it hurts.
