Hi,
I’m seeking opinions on chanter stop keys/valves.
Is anyone familiar with the David Boisvert twist-cap stop valve?
How does it compare with the traditional long stop key?
I am wondering if the twist-cap might turn during playing
or if there are any other issues.
Brett
I don’t have any information on David Boisvert’s twist valve but I’ve played Nick Whitmer’s own chanter which has a twist stop-valve. Very simple to use and no danger of getting the long stop key stuck in anything.
What’s more, once the valve is closed you can take both hands off the chanter, something you can’t do with the more traditional stop key. This makes tuning drones easier. Also, if you’re really adventurous, it allows you to play regulator keys with both hands, make a cup of tea, order, pay for and drink a pint, do the washing up, change gears while you drive, all to the constant hum of your drones. What else could a piper ask for?
Here’s a thread in which Nick discussed his stop-valve:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?p=361471&highlight=#361471
Umm, Eddie Van Uilleann ?
Are you playing with the set behind your back? In another room?
I heard Britton used make these stop switch geegaws to play whistle with the drones going.
I don’t know why having both hands free makes tuning drones easier - one hand is enough unless your tuning slides are so super-dooper tight that you need two hands to move them…I actually find it easier to tune the drones while playing the A on my chanter at the same time. Of course, it’s hard to hear the individual drones with the A blaring but one gets the hang of listening for the warbles, even on noisy stages.
Cheers,
DavidG
I think it is important to tune the drones to the chanter… like, that’s usually the way it is done, like, totally. Tuning regs is another matter, but as I don’t presently have regs, I am not really qualified to comment on them… 
Yeah, me too…I’m still confined to playing the ‘air regs’. Sound great though - never out of tune
OK, it only takes one hand to tune drones, unless you like to make a big show of it, but enough about that. The topic is stop valves, not air regs (although it is a funny image 
)
I can only think of two significant issues between the twist-stop versus the stop-key:
1). Twist-stop is simple enough to be made by the user, whereas a stop-key requires craftsmanship at the pipemaker level. Note that you can only use the twist-stop if your chanter’s air stem comes off the side of the chanter cap.
2). The stop-key allows you to maintain air pressure when you want to go back to the chanter (only takes one finger), whereas the twist-stop requires you to turn off air pressure while you re-open the stop, then place your fingers back on the chanter, then start up air pressure again.
djm
The Whitmer model doesn’t require you to turn off/on the pressure before restarting to play on the chanter. You can turn the chanter with all your fingers on the holes - you turn the whole chanter plus about 2/3rds of the chanter top about a quarter turn. The remaining 1/3 of the chanter top doesn’t move. That’s the real difference between Nick’s design and the other designs I’ve read about. I tried it once and was able to get the hang of it reasonably quickly.
Huh? Are you certain about that my friend?
The twist-stop I am familiar with is the Pat Hutchinson one, where you have an extension on the bottom of the cap on the chanter top that can be twisted to block the air intake pipe. PJ’s description of Nick Witmer’s design suggests that his extension is on the chanter itself, so that twisting the chanter into the chanter top closes off the air pipe. This would allow you to keep your fingers on the chanter, as PJ points out. I stand corrected.
The only concern I would have with the Witmer design as PJ describes it is that you might have some leakage between the chanter and chanter top if it is loose enough to twist it around like that, but I’m sure some compromise could be reached.
djm
We’ve all seen these…
http://www.bagpipeworld.co.uk/Plans/StopSwitch.htm
I know that the esteemed Mr. Mirab… um…er…Britton uses a twist top design with a swan neck inlet.
Mr. Hutchinson’s C chanter is top-fed, and has a push-pull valve designed by himself and Bill Thomas. Very simple design. The end of the intake tube is closed, and there’s a hole in its side, which when you pull it up about 1/2 an inch (through the cork-packed chanter top knob), closes off the air.
And yes, Timmy Britton also has another design for top-fed chanters.
… and David Boisvert…
I’ve tinkered with dozens and dozens of different stop mechanisms. Personally I find a stop key of some sort useful, and generally I prefer a keyed one..but of course,each to their own comfort level.
Here are two wooden tops. One is a tradionally keyed top, the other is a twist top. A quarter turn to the left (counter clockwise) does the trick…
Here’s another twist top contained in a plain ol’ tube top. The pin showing is used as a visual reference and as a stop peg.
Finally..here’s a rather goofy idea I wasted a sunday evening on…it functions just like a bic pen…you press the button on the top with yer thumb and >click< it shuts off the air supple to the chanter…press the button again and >click< it’s back on again… Kind of silly really. I did refine the design to be MUCH more compact. The prototype mechanism took up about 2.5-3 inches of internal space. The refined version only needs 1 inch…still..kinda silly..
Davey set me up with a stop key and wood reedcap. It’s longer than what I usually see, and I have it positioned to the left side of the chanter, so that when I apply it, all I have to do is raise my left index knuckle a bit and use that to press the key. Literally, I don’t have to lift a finger. No squeaks! That’s the design I’d want again no matter whoever made pipes for me in the future. Gotta have a rotatable endcap, of course.
Cool. 
I kinda like the bic pen style