Does Kirk Lynch use cork on the tenons of his pipes, instead of string? And cork on keypads, instead of leather, foam, etc.?
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my chanter and drones are all hemped, but my air hose is corked at each end (now there’s a loaded statement). 
jeff
On my 3/4 set the chanter is corked along with the blowpipe fittings and mainstock. The drones and regulators are hemped.
I was thinking about this very topic the other day, as I was winding some thread around the wood to make my drone slides a little tighter (one fell off while I was playing, so I figured it was time to take action).
Look at all the flutes and clarinets,et. al that make use of cork for wooden connections.
Is there a reason why pipemakers don’t use cork as a matter of course?
-gary
Here are the reasons I have been given for not using cork:
Cork is a bastard to source for the right quality and thickness.
Cork is a bastard to install.
Cork wears out, and its a bastard to remove the old to put in the new.
Thread is cheap, readily available, goes on quickly, lasts a long time, and is easily replaced.
djm
Cork is a bit of a bastard i read somewhere… 
I’ve been using this stuff as a natural cork replacement when I wanted to redo the blowpipe cork on my Lynch set
http://www.musicmedic.com/catalog/products/cork-200.html
it came highly recommended to me by Dave Collins (illwinds) a woodwind repairman in the SoCal piping club.
This stuff is amazing. Looks, cuts, and sands just like cork, but doesn’t crumble, recompresses well, as far as I can tell will last nearly forever. It isn’t cheap, but you don’t need much.
For glue, I use 3M weatherstriping adhesive from Pep Boys. Also came recommended by another repairman.
M
Woodwind intruments generally get dismantled entirely after playing. This allows the cork to expand naturally. If you don’t dismantle, the cork becomes compressed, and, eventually, loose. Bit of a pain. You end up having to wrap hemp round it to get a tight fit again.
GHBers flirted with cork in the early nineties, but once these problems became clear, most stopped using it.
I’d like to see O-rings tried out, though: I’ve seen them on practice chanters and they seem to work well.
Cheers,
Calum
O-Rings? Here you go…
‘O’ rings were patented for use on “bagpipes and like instruments” in the early 1900’s by Duncan MacRae. Will try and look up the number and exact date. The “fixed” joints i.e. where standing parts went into stocks were metal against metal (from memory) with bayonet fittings similar to those found on light bulbs
Am I misremembering the way McNulty-Hunter pipes went together? As I recall there were (are) o-rings on the “fixed” joints. Can’t recall how the sliding joints were set up. That was at least 30 years ago, maybe longer.
They did have O-rings, among various other unconvential features - they were the first to use coil springs, right? And aluminum for metalwork. Might still be in the vanguard with that one. At least, I hope so. McNulty, I understand, was an engineer working on Harrier jump-jets, hence the rather space age aspects of his work.
I notice Tom Kannemacher[sp?]‘s old John Addison set, pictured in the last Pipers’ Review, has wide Taylor style keys mounted between wood blocks. My old McNulty regs had this feature, but most of the blocks on the small regs had shattered at some point (various points?) and were later neatly repared by Lynch. I’ve always wondered if this was due to a ham-handed piper, or just inherit structural weakness, or did Addison beef his blocks up somehow - they do appear larger than mine, that is to say, longer. ala Matt Kiernan. I only have the McNulty regs, don’t know about the rest of his work, other than that he eschewed tapering anything. Again, very Aries V or Titan III in mentality.
Yes, the MacRae system works really well - I know a couple of sets still powering on strong.
Um, Cameron bagpipes. Certainly the chap that runs it is an excellent engineer. Um.
Could someone please explain how these pvc and o-ring systems work?
Thx,
djm
PVC is what the pipes are made of. They remove wastes from the central plumbing, which you deposit into your pipes. If not handled correctly the O-Rings will fail, leading to massive systems loss.
Don’t o-rings needs to be ‘lubed’ too for best results over time?