Howdy Everyone,
I’m planning to use a GHB hide bag (probably a Jackie Boyce) for some bellows pipes because of it’s larger size. Not having any experience with GHB bags I’m wondering if the hide would still need seasoning even though the air blown through it would be dry? Are cow hide GHB bags different from say uilleann pipe bags in this respect?
Thanks for reading this, David
never season a bellows blown bag. period. especially with GHB seasoning. lost two great bags that way, millions of tiny dander flakes inside…the other with a concoction that was ‘supposed’ to be safe for bellows bags, both resulting in total disaster.
observe-
What i ended up doing was vacuuming one bag out with a shop vac, really narrow nozzle, then wiping the entire inside of the bag down with clorox bleach wipes to get rid of the rubbish inside, then wiping it clean again with warm water until there was no trace of the offensive substance, & letting it dry in the hot summer sun for about a week. Its fine now.
I would definitely agree with ChasR, seasoning is only for mouth blown pipes. GHB bags are seasoned partly as a moisture barrier and partly because the much greater pressure on the bag compared to bellows pipes makes the porousness of the animal skin a problem.
Thanks CHasR and Bogman for the replies.
I wasn’t actually planning to season a bag, I’m trying to find out if a GHB hide bag is tanned the same as bellows pipes bags and therefore needing no seasoning if used with bellows, or if, being a bag made specifically for the GHB it has a different tanning process and therefore needs to be seasoned anyway. I’m interested in a particular Eastern European bagpipe but they are mouth blown with the bag made of un-tanned goat skin with the hair on the inside of the bag, I would want to use bellows so I was looking to replicate the goat skin bag with a commercial tanned bag of similar size and shape hence the GHB bag question.
Ok! (communication breakdown) My uilleann bags (L&M) are made of the same material GHB bags are made of: two tanned in the coveted, now illegal, older process (deep brown), one in the newer one (a bit greyer in color). So this works quite effectively, im my experience. Other hide bellows bags (mine & other pipers) do have an entierly diferent weight & texture, superficially at least, not identical to the L&M.
I have a half dozen goat bags as you describe. Its a bit tricky, and you’ll have to untye and turn the whole thing inside out, maybe moisten it up a bit, but a bellows stock can indeed be tied into the right abdomen. 
Guessing maybe you are interested in Magyar Duda, or Bulgarian Gaida? Cimpoi? A viable substitute for goat has become the Wintex material favored by most Zampognari. Its cheap, plentiful, easy to cut & sew, remains airtight, but feels sometimes a little flimsy under the arm.
If it’s the Duda you’re thinking about: the same goat skin bags are used for mouth-blown, as for the bellows-blown variety. Hungarian bags are usually de-haired.
A GHB bag will not fit, as the opening for the chanter stock will be too small for the goat head stock. Also, the shape is not ideal. French cornemuse bags emulate the shape of the goat skin a bit better.
What happened? Did the original bag not pass through the customs?
The so-called “elkhide” bags from L&M Highland Outfitters are perfectly airtight as they come and never require seasoning. I played one on a set of Highland pipes for 12 years and never had to season it. The only reason I stopped playing that bag was because I sold that set of pipes!
I played a Michael MacHarg “elkhide” bag (made identically to L&M bags) on a set of uilleann pipes for 20 years and never seasoned it. Likewise I sold that set of pipes, and the bag is probably still going strong somewhere!
I have one of these “elkhide” bags on my current uilleann pipes. They last forever.
I have been told that the bags called by the trade “elkhide” are actually “chrome-tanned cowhide”. I didn’t know this process was now illegal! You can pick up L&M Highland “elkhide” bags easily, though. I see them on Ebay all the time, the old-style ones.
About bag sizing, you can probably get Michael MacHarg or L&M to make any size or shape bag you require.
as far as i recall the Canadian govt banned the use of a certain chemical used in the process (no idea which one), hence the change from the older, brownish hue to the newer, ‘grey-ish’ tinge.
Since I came by this info on a bagpipe forum, either here or the other one, caution is worth exercising. However, having bags both new & old, theres a tangible tactile difference in the quality of the material. Comparative performance (thus far) proves equal.