I am having a difficult time sourcing some rubber for making UP bags. I have a set by Ginsberg that has a rubber bag and it works fine for me.
Anyone know of where I might look for something suitable?!? I am in Ontario, CANADA. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
Paul
magroibin
I haven’t seen rubber uilleann pipe bags since the 80’s. They were popular for a bit and from what I remember they were ok. Mr Gumby may have a better recollection.
At the Willie Week in 1987 I remember a German student in my class with a lovely Rowsome chanter with a rubber bag.
Dan Dowd thought it was the most marvelous thing but commented “That’ll put me and Meehan out of f***in business” A reference to Tom Meehan from Offaly Rd in Cabra who made great hand stitched leather bags.
I upgraded to a Tom Meehan leather bag in 1988 for a huge price of 35 pounds. To prove it was airtight my teacher, Mick O’Brien, inflated it and stood on it.
My father nearly punched him.
“35 fu*ing pounds for a feckn bag and all you do in stand on it!!!”
“get off that feckin bag”
Mick kindly explained that he was trying to prove that the bag was 100% airtight and would last for years. To which my dad replied, “you can prove that by putting the bag under your arm and squeezing it. Don’t be standin on bags, they’re not made for that!”
35 pounds was a lot of money then, considering my practice set was 150 pounds in 1984. So most practice sets can be $1500 today so that may put a leather bag at $300 then…
Anyway my old pal Brian MacAodh, great piper, had a vulcanised rubber bag for a good 15 years.
Also the great old character Ronnie Watton had a rubber bag made from a car wheel tyre…
If you want a decent bag nowadays get a leather one from Boyce, Bennet, Hamon or McHarg or a fine vinyl bag from David Daye for a great price.
Tommy
Mr Gumby may have a better recollection.
As I get a mention.. I got my first vinyl/leatherette or whatever it was bag from Dan Dowd in 1980, he too inflated it and stood on it to show it did the job. It replaced an also rubber-ish bag that was on a McCarthy-Wilkinson set I started on (bought at Walton’s) that was a bit of a strange hybrid: it was rubber, glued but also stitched. Needless to say the holes punched to pull the thread through made it leak like a sieve. Dan’s bag had a little spot in the seam (about an inch long) where the glue hadn’t taken properly and never would, I had to re-glue that patch every second week or so.
At some later point, 1983-ish, I had a rubber bag by Eugene Lambe, it was heavy duty rubber and Eugene told me it was stuff used to line water tanks. It was big and fairly rigid. It worked but was not particularly nice.
I was glad to change to leather and never looked back. I have been playing the same leather bag since 1986, never missed a beat although possibly it’s finally up for a beeswax and olive oil job.
Paul since you asked I’ll point you to junkyards, mechanics, even amusement parks that have ‘tubing’ attractions. You will need an inner tube from a larger tire, truck, bus or something.
My experience of rubber bags are from zampogna, they were popular for zamps) before the advent of goretex -like material). Rubber;s VERY bad for mouthblown pipes. no where for the condensation to go, so 100% effective at rotting wood.
Rubber pipebags are made airtight with repeated applications of automotive sealing caulk on the inside, and duct tape on the outside. Staples, stitches, organic glue, dont work. The only good thing about them is the ease of tying in stocks…just cut a hole smaller than the stock and the rubber stretches and seals up rather well around the stock. Tie a strip of innertube around it & your good to go.
Playing on rubber bags reminded me of riding a bus…always a bumpy ride..controlling the bag pressure’s not intuitive either. Can hardly imagine what a pain this must be for uilleann & other dry blown pipes…Im glad to have rid of it, but if you want to try one out, my advice is to get in good with your local michelin man; or go to the auto “u-pik-ur-part” graveyard 
I thought about going this route and did talk to my local tire guy. He would sell me a new fairly large inner tube fo $15.00. Looked big enough!
Just saw some colorful beach balls made of thick ruber about 8 inches in diameter in a bin outside my local grocery store that might be worth a shot. They’re inexpensive and need no gluing. A nice bag cover will do wonders to camouflage it.