Favorite BAG type??? & How much AIR in BAG ???

Uilleann Pipes
1

Dear pipers,

As a begginer I have problem with how much air I must have all the time in bag?

I have Rogge bag which is smaller design then most others bags. And my bellows are so efficient that I need 2 full pumps to fill a bag. Usualy in other bags as I heard 4 full pumps are needed to fill bags of apr. 4 cubic litres. The problem is that my bag is full wery quickly. It was told to me that I must always blow with bellows when the bag is so much empty that I need one full blow to make it full again. In my case this means that I must wait wery long to be bag wery empty to blow again. And when is wery empty then playing notes become wery hard (squeezing like a crazy). I know that when I will get my drones, they will use a lot of air, but still this problem is strange for me now when I have practice set. Great Highland pipers usualy select appropriate bag size considering overall arm length, chest shape, and blowing technique. But Uilleann I supose becouse of sitting don’t need to do it in this way.
I read somewhere that larger bag gives better tone and you don’t need to blow as often as with a larger bag.

Which style of bag is favorite for most pipers (Rogge, Cillian O’Brien, Pete Hunter, bigger Taylor style or other…) and what are most frequent dimensions?

Dimensions of my bag are:
LENGHT:from tail end to the tip of the neck - 68 cm
HEIGHT:(while the bag is laid flat) - from the fold at the top of the bag down the widest part of the middle bag to the opposite side – 24 cm
Comparing to this one, last year I saw leather bag which was for flat set and was much bigger. Why?

Mybe decision to order new bag will help me to solve my problem!!!
What would most optimal shape and dimensions for Uilleann bag? I supose Only the neck would have to be longer for Bb,B,C,C# chanters and everything else can be same.

Thank you a lot :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

2

Yo Eric ,ma wee friend ye dinnae have a problem wi your kit at all,tis yersel is the problem :wink:
Now then, there is nothing wrang wi Andreas’s bags,believe me.He has been making enough o them long enough and we would have known by now methinks.
The secret ma little munchkin is to practice yer technique.
Ye don’t have to empty the bag or half empty it either or even 1/4 empty it,noooo ye keep it full all the time regardless of how many strokes to initially fill it.
Thereyafter tis just a question of topping it up .
I have various sizes no problems with any of them other than maybe my largest bag which I made mesel and it takes a few pumps more to fill but when full it can’t get any fuller can it :open_mouth:
I think ye need to get some lessons pronto,the very 1st thing in Heather Clarkes book is aboot pumping the bag and keeping it full.

Instead o worrying aboot making reeds/getting different bags etc spend some time on the basics.
If’n ye can’t get to another piper get a tutor book(Heather Clarke) and the DVD frae NPU(The beginners one ).

Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

3

:blush: Sorry for ignorance and thanks for explanation. It seems that I had wrong info about how much bag must be empty to blow it again. :blush:

4

Nae problem wee man.Don’t be sorry for not knowing something…feel sorry for those that know everything :really:
Happy pumping or rather manipulation of the bellows.Pumping here in Alba refers to flatulence.

Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

5

I found that there is this “optimal playing (and sounding) convenience”. Air (like all gases) is compressable. A concert-pitch-chanter (usually) plays between (ca.) 40 and 70 mbs (millibars). You therefore need this optimal bag size. If it is too big you have to squeeze a bit harder to gain it (in the 2nd 8ve) and if it is too small it is empty too soon. I think (cause I know them best of course) that Andreas Rogges bags best hit this optimum (plenty other pipemakers use a similiar size). Of course the L&M-bags are playable, too, but I found them a bit harder to squeeze (hardly noticeable though).