okay…I went over my set systematically with the chanter hole plugged since my last post. here is what I found (and fixed)
leaks were coming from:
bass B&G keys
tenor G&F# keys
the foot joints on the bass and tenor regs needed more windings
the tuning pin on the tenor reg leaked around the pin itself, but i fixed that one, too
I also added more windings to just about all the joints that I hadn’t done anyting with in awhile, just for good measure
but here was the biggie…the plate that’s soldered to the bass reg didn’t sit flush with the stock, but I was able to seal that one too once I figured that out…
all of the above problems are fixed, and I now have no discernable leaking air
It turns out that the keys weren’t leaking because of the pads, but because of the springs…they weren’t strong enough to hold the key down tight enough…know where I can get what i need to replace them? They are a single curved piece of metal screwed into the reg key at the top. I don’t know if there are other style springs out there, coiled for instance, so that’s why i mention it…
anyway…It’s like learning to play all over again…i now have to pump the bag only half as much, and I have to remember to use less pressure or i jump octaves…i’m sure i’ll have that ingrained in a couple days, tho…
Good Man! I think most of us start looking for reed problems first off and pull out our whittling kits, when a lot of problems probably lie in a leak somewhere or another. It’s often the last thing we look to, the easiet to repair and the least damaging to the reeds if we muff it.
Marc
Antaine, you say this set was the one rebuilt by T. Britton? You should be able to shut the drone switch off and close all the chanter finger holes, and pump with the bellows and not get anywhere…ie, the bellows won’t come together at all…at least for a couple of minutes (there’s really no such thing as 100% airtight).
yeah. i do that, except I close off the chanter’s hole with my finger. The bag will eventually deflate meaning that there is, of course a tiny bit of leakage in the system, but I can hear no hissing, nor am I able to discern any joint or key or combination thereof where the air is coming from. This strikes me as being as it should be.
before i did my repairs I used to be able to hear a hissing, and using the same test was able to deflate the bag in 5-10 seconds. When using just the chanter and drones it wasn’t that bad…I was sure I had to pump more than the average UPer, but it was not uncomfortable or unmanageable. It wasn’t until I wanted to start really using the regs that I felt how much I was really losing.
Still plan on replacing those springs, tho, once I figure out what i need to do so…
