Denis Brooks called all that stuff- vegitation. I was watching Paddy Keenan re-tape his back D on the fly on his chanter at the concert last Saturday. And he has vegitation up the chanter bore as well.
Does he ever, I saw him pull it all out on a humid night here and it was like a magician’s hat! Funny thing is he pulled everything out, stuffed a little back in and was all in tune in no time. From beginning to end maybe 30 seconds. Now that’s experience! It takes me longer than that just to get my bridle adjusted to humidity changes.
I’ve used painters tape (blue), despite using black sticky electricians stuff at the minute (that I’m sure to regret once it starts leaving it’s muck everywhere). I do like the painters stuff.
Someone who travels as much as Paddy, I’m not surprised. If I take my pipes from the basement to the groundfloor during the summer months, the tuning changes noticably.
He uses soft cane for his reeds, which according to Ted Anderson yields the best tonal results but can be less stable. That would account for a lot…he has the chanter stuffing down to an art though…I’m glad I just play my pipes at home, no stuffing needed!
I have a two floor apartment and can’t play the pipes upstairs during the summer at all.