what’s blue tack. Putty? What’s rushes made of? Should rushes block the holes? Can I tune to other instruments? How?
‘Blue tack’ is a medium soft sticky poster putty commonly found in office supply stores.
Rushes can be made from nearly any stiff thin material like a guitar string, music wire or bamboo skewer.
Basic instruction…
Depending where you place the rush, you usually place a small ‘blob’ of Blue tack around the rush, possibly more on the side of the tone hole (when rushing a chanter bore or regulator) just slightly above the note you want to flatten.
Too much ‘tack’ can affect the overall tuning of a chanter.
Don’t block the toneholes
Tony, rushes are rushes and they grow in badly drained fields, you can make St Bridget’s crosses from them or stick them up chanters and regulators to narrow the bore. You can stick other things up chanters to the same effect but that wouldn’t be rushes.
So I’ve been Sataying and Caning chanters for the last 2 years???
Alan
and stringing and wiring and all that. But no. you have been rushing I suppose but the things inside are they rushes?
Technically??
They’re tuning devices.
nylon strings are probably safer than steel guitar strings. just a thought.
And those plastic coated telephone wires (the yellow, red, green, black) work even better, you can bend them back and form like a snake and they will wedge themselves in place, as far up and down the chanter as you’d like, or any shorter point inbetween. Twist two together if thicker is needed. The plastic is harmless on the wood, and you can micro-adjust it.
Stick a short piece in the throat for a hard bottom D stick another in the bell if that doesn’t cure it completely.
A pair of old Taylor-style chanters I played had wire with string wrapping in the bores. Leo Rowsome was said to use a couple of ostrich feathers for rushes, and a cork in the bottom of the chanter - the poor man’s “Iris.”
Don’t be silly. A “rush” is like a “pledge,” when you apply to join a fraternity. And you don’t stick them up chanters, you stick chanters up them. Usually dipped in candle wax with a zippo handy.
Royce