I thought I would share this with you folks. I THINK I have come up with a nice alternative design for uilleann bellows. I call them Hidey Hole bellows, for obvious reasons, but would like to hear any better names. I am not making these to sell but wanted to share the concept with all of you and get any feedback. In short, they work really well and are trying to solve the issues of inlet valve popping out while playing and with sleeves clogging the inlet, while also allowing more pretty wood to show. See what you think. Clearly may not appeal to the solidly traditional eye.
Exactly the same amount of the sound of air coming in as with any other good bellows. The space is actually quite large in a volume sense, being an arch shape that is about 4 inches wide and about 1/4" at the “peak”, and coming from both front end and rear end of the pad. That total volume dwarfs the size of the inlet, which is typical size. If anything, I think the wood/foam/leather pad may absorb a bit of the sound of the silicone valve working.
I have thought of turning a non-functioning inlet valve in imitation ivory and attaching it, just to give the traditional appearance.
I really like the idea and the wood looks pretty. It would be something to try out for sure. I wonder if any of the old makers had tried that before. like David Quinn says.. there’s nothing that hasn’t been thought of at least once before. (or something like that)
Is it safe to assume that these come with an integral Liestman Turbo Booster? The new double vortex version is amazingly efficient, but mine is an old aftermarket one.
I have thought of turning a non-functioning inlet valve in imitation ivory and attaching it, just to give the traditional appearance.
Tradition for the sake of tradition ?! It is not a wonder that men still have nipples on their chests - what next? Those bellows look quite nice as they are - no need for silicone implants.
Thanks Pudinka - I will continue to reserve the silicone for the valve and gasket.
Thanks, Brazen, no real reason other than I have always used a glued-and-stapled method. For me, a sewn gusset would be a new challenge and I did not want to change too much at once. My other bellows are by Quinn and are hand sewn and incredible, so maybe they will inspire me to go down that road next.
Beauthiful figured maple. I’m missing this wood very much in Uilleann world. And YES, very nice bellows, I’m still waiting to make my own dream one. AA
I’ve seen this idea before possibly on a set of Jon Swayne’s pipes or a French bagpipe. In that case the valve was mounted facing backwards at the end of a short triangle of wood mounted on the bellows cheek (badly illustrated below..
set of accordion-style French bellows that I own.
Note the blowpipe hole at the top,
and the bellows intake is the slit where the pencil is.
(partially obscured by the nunmbers)
Ian, Paul sent me a pic of his Swayne bellows with the backside intake, after I sent some pictures to Peter of my bellows. Cool though a fair bit different!
ChasR - I like that design a lot too. Thanks for sharing!
Hans-Joerg, I can spare you the effort; and say (without hijacking the thread) they are not worth the trouble of investigating, at least in my experience. Although the design concept is good, and the decorative workmanship superb (especially in the purfling, which cant be seen in the pic’s); this set was simply not up to the task of supplying enough air for a bagpipe. I am not naming the maker/supplier. There may be better acordion bellows out there, but I recall seeing most French/bellows pipes supplied with the familiar ssp/up/nsp type.
The ‘classic’ French accordion belows are laced on the forearm, which wont work for uilleann.
However, making the blowpipe hole and the air intake in one integral piece as it is shown is worth a 2nd look.
John I like your approach to relocation. It may be worth the time to take a peek at the central eurpoean type bellows.
Beauthiful figured maple. I’m missing this wood very much in Uilleann world. And YES, very nice bellows, I’m still waiting to make my own dream one. AA 
