(Apologies in advance for any dumb questions, I’m completely new to this)
I’ve recently acquired a half-set of pipes that are a few years old but haven’t really been played much at all. I wanted to try the drones so I could practise my bag-bellows coordination (and because I’m just curious).
When I open the drone switch, all I get is a short pathetic squeak from the tenor drone. Obviously the reeds need some adjustment. I took the tenor drone out to look at the reed and it has a big blob of sap or something on the tip of it, and in fact the whole reed feels sticky to the touch. Is that normal?
I couldn’t get the other two drones to budge from the stock, so I can’t get to the reeds there.
Can any one give me some tips here?
Sending the pipes to their maker is a last resort because I’m learning and practising every day and it would be a huge inconvenience!
Cheers guys
It would be a much bigger inconvenience if you broke off a drone tenon trying to get the drone out of the stock, and if there’s nobody near to you who knows about Uilleann drones, it won’t help you much if you get to the reeds and don’t know how to adjust them. Adjusting reeds is too complex to be explained to a vovice here, there’s books on that subject. The blob of whatever-it-is on the reed tongue is for flattening the pitch of the reed, and certainly the reed should NOT feel sticky. If you value your new pipes and want them in good order soon, send them to the maker!
Gentle heat from a hairdryer should loosen up the tenons of the drones so you can get them out. They are intended to be a good fit but should not require excessive force to remove them. Try and avoid “screwing” them out, as the tenons could snap. Use a wiggling movement and apply pressure to the drone stock as you wiggle them out.
Thanks guys -
What I know about adjusting drone reeds is only what I’ve learnt from the highland pipes… so I don’t intend to mess around with them too much, but if I could just expose the reeds I would give them a gentle wipe and check they’re aligned properly… see if that makes them work at all. I’ll try that hairdryer trick.
Incidently, that blob of stuff isn’t on the reed tongue but on the tip of the reed. It looks (and smells) like sap that has oozed from the wood of the drone reed. Given that they haven’t been played much since they were made a few years ago I thought that might be what it was…
– UPDATE –
I got the other drones out and the problem appears to be that all the reeds are covered in sticky sappy shite, to the extent that the tongues are almost glued into their beds. Whatever they’ve been coated/treated/tweaked with has melted and covers all the reeds. The substance appears to be insoluble in water and I can’t remove it. Looks like it’s back to the maker for them!
Sounds like it’s bag seasoning… try warm water or - maybe better - alcohol.