HUMIDITY QUESTIONS

Uilleann Pipes
1

So I finally broke down and bought a house (yay for me).

I now have time and space to really lay into my practice set.
I’m having some problems with a sinking back D. I’m hoping it’s mostly a humidity issue.
I’m in Northern Kentucky and the weather is typical mid-east (if you don’t like it wait 15 minutes cause it will change).

Questions:

What is the range of humidity I should be shooting for?
Any suggestions for maintaining the humidity?
Is only the reed affected, or is the chanter a consideration too?

Thanks in advance for any advice and opinions.

2

I’m in East Tennessee so we’ve fairly similiar weather patterns.

In response to your questions;

-I’ve always found that around 60% is ideal. Seems mine are the most responsive/brilliant and stable around this level of humidity.

-Spring’s coming (thank God!), so our troubles are usually lessened in about a month or so in the South. I use a “Damp-It” violin humidifying tube sponge inside my bellows which stabilizes all the reeds a bit + a humidifier in the case is a good idea. If the weather’s really dry, I’ll run a regular warm mist humidifier while I’m playing.

-Both reed and chanter are affected (unless you’re playing a penny-chanter). Even the ebony that my pipes are made from changes slightly with the weather/seasons.

Hope this helps! Striving for correct humidity & temperature are the key, as is finishing/setting up your chanter reed correctly.

Matt McNeely

3

Sometimes a sinking back D can be helped by closing the reed down to autocrann and opening just enough to eliminate the autocrann.

I have found that reeds with more “meat” in the lips have a more stable back D.

I usually shoot for a humidity of 50-65 % and sometimes if my pipes behave, they will play at 35 %. It has to be an excellent reed, though. My Dickie Deegan reed made in 1992 in my C set is very forgiving, once I got the nerve to take off the bridle and give it a couple of scrapes in the U.

4

Thanks for the replies.
I’m formulating a plan and any advice is welcome.
I can get the dampit products pretty cheap, so those are a definate.
I just didn’t know if I should be trying to humidify the whole room
I keep and play the pipes in or if I should direct my attention at the reed
and or chanter.

It seems like a combination of both is the way to go.