whilst waiting for my pipes...

Uilleann Pipes
1

Apologies if this has been covered before.

My pipes from Richard Patkos are hopefully arriving soon, but the weather is extremely cold and I’m wondering how the transition from a cold DHL truck to my not so warm house will affect the pipes.

When taking my camera equipment in from subzero temperatures I usually put the camera bag in my unheated garage, with one of those little sachets to eat up any moisture and then after a couple of hours into a room that is at a lower temperature than the rest of the house for a further two hours.

Will I need to treat the pipes in a similar fashion?

2

Just play them. I got a chanter a few weeks back. went from 3deg to 35deg.

I just played for hours over those few weeks, put up with all the squeaks, off notes etc. I am only now just begining to tweek the reed. Once the reed was consistantly off in the same manner I think it is safe to assume that it has found its happy medium and its safe to adjust. Others may have their own opinion on this. I went cautiously as I had no idea about the chanter/reed combo. With my regular chanter I only give it about 20mins playing before adjusting if needed.

Just keep playing. No substitue for putting as much air as possible through the reed.

Cheers,
Liam
(Constantly dealing with ridiculous Melbourne weather).

3

It’s probably best to err on the side of caution and acclimatise them slowly. Not sure I’d agree with pushing as much air through the them if conditions are very dry. Very dry air can kill your reeds and at best will disable them very quickly.

4

In my experience, shipping in winter is bad for the reeds. It’s not just the cold: it’s the change from warm to cold and from humid air to dry air. Anything you can do to ease this process will reduce the risk of damaging the reeds.

When your pipes arrive, the reeds will be cold, and probably a little dry from being shipped by air. The last thing to do would be to play them immediately in your warm and (comparatively) humid apartment/house. Let the reeds adjust slowly to the temperature and humidity of your house.

Where I live, the winter is very cold (as low as -30 C) and very dry. I usually keep my pipes in the basement of my house where the humidity and temperature vary less, and I rarely take them out of the house in winter (no sessions). I’ve been playing the same chanter reed since 2009 and have only changed one regulator reed since 2006.

5

Some reeds can deal. The one I’m playing now has handled several seasons of walking ten to fifteen minutes in freezing weather, and then played in a warm pub. Others can’t. I’ve had many give up the ghost after such treatment. I doubt anyone knows what makes one reed resilient and another a wilting shard of cane.

6

I’m lucky to have a concert-chanter reed that can basically deal, like Silver Spear says, with a whole lot of change. Like SS, I drag my pipes through all kinds of weather all year 'round (they’re sitting on my cold office floor as we speak), and they get to fly to exciting faraway places sometimes, too. Generally they behave, and if I give them a day they settle even better. Most of this is credit to the reedmaker (not me), but I try to keep a good thing going!

(The one time they did misbehave was truly spectacular – we went to an unusually (and incredibly!) hot and humid session last summer right after 5 hours of plane and car travel. It was like stepping into a shower. On the plus side, my reed’s tantrums got me a chance to play a fantastic Benedict Kohler chanter for a glorious hour or so :party: )

Anyway .. My habit has been to get the pipes out and let them at least get within hailing distance of room temperature before playing (i.e., only cool to the touch instead of freezing in the winter). To move things along a little I’ll take the chanter off the bag, open the drone switch, and put some room air into the bag and drones.

With a new chanter I’m a little more cautious; I’d leave it sit at least a few hours. It’s hard, but you’ve waited a year
+, so what’s an extra couple of hours? Just go run an errand or something.

I’ve done that with my two chanters that came by international post … I also only played them for about 15 minutes a day for the first week or so. Knowing I have a big stout bag-arm, I didn’t want to exert too much enthusiasm on a reed that might still be settling. I also basically expected the reeds to have some adjustment tantrums, and I waited a week or two before making any changes.

So far, so good with all three of my chanters (the concert set was hand-carried over from Ireland and had several days before I got hold of it) and all are generally reasonably steady in different environments. The one chanter that stays home the most is the least adaptable, FWIW. This leads me to think you can “train” or “socialize” some reeds, at least to some degree …

Anyhoo, congratulations! Just use good sense and you should be fine.

7

Thanks for the replies, patience isn’t one of my strengths but then neither is making money…

I’m glad to hear that an hour should be enough, was worrying that i’d have to wait for several days before I could even try to squeeze a note.

8

I actually asked this same question to the maker of the pipes I recently ordered.

He said to let them sit for a couple of hours in the house before trying to play them, to give them time to adjust to the environment switch.

9
10

I’m having a little chuckle here, everyone is saying I’ve waited a year…

I’ve been waiting for nine years to be able to afford a set of practice pipes, and so far this year every attempt I’ve made to acquire a set has ended badly.

These last four weeks have been the worst, everytime I hear a truck I get wound up and excited and then disappointed - starting to wonder if a higher power doesn’t want me to have a set of pipes.

I ended up going against all conventional wisdom and bought a full set, knowing full (almost a pun) well that I’ll never have the chance again and not even to get a practice or half set.

And through the years that I’ve been lurking on this forum I’ve seen quite a few people starting out and quickly getting bitten by the “more” bug - one which bit me with whistles and concertinas…

11

I’m not a Post Master General but I wouldn’t think that it would take 4 weeks to ship a set a of pipes to anywhere on this earth…

12

pipes were actually sent last week, guessing the christmas post is getting my way

13

Not sure about that. Depends on where it was sent from. The holiday season will likely both delay the shipment in both the country it’s sent from, as well as once it enters his country. It took me about 20 days to recieve a whistle from scotland once, and that wasn’t even during any holidays. Also worth noting is that sometimes things can get held up in customs, which might be more likely with a set of pipes than something small like a whistle.

Not saying this is the case, but it’s certainly possible.

Oh, and I came onto this thread again because I made a mistake in my last post. I was actually told to wait “a few hours”, not “a couple hours”. Better safe than sorry, so we should probablby both wait quite a few hours and err on the side of caution if they are coming off a cold mail truck.

It might be a good idea to pick them up at the post office. I’m not sure if you live in a small town or a big city, but here we can just call them before the delivery trucks go out, and if they have a package for me, I can simply go up there and pick it up hours before the mail even leaves.

But yes, I wouldn’t worry unless it’s still not there after perhaps 5 weeks from it being sent. I remember reading in a post here awhile back that a person was very worried because their pipes were sent over a month back, but they ended up getting them. It was also during the holiday season in their situation too.


I am saying these things, but if mine don’t arrive after 3 weeks from being sent, I’ll probably worry too! :astonished:

14

I’m doing my best to be patient but have to say it doesn’t help when the maker doesn’t reply to emails…

If I should ever be so lucky to get another set or want to change something on my set I think I’ll be dealing with the maker / seller in person.

Weather wise it’s getting a little warmer and a lot wetter right now so hoping the transition will be smoother - though it’s not weather I’d take my cameras out in.

15

I do not wish to put salt on the wound but there were many topics on this forum about this subject matter, and yet pipers still dare to roll the dice with their time and money. I wish all the best to you!! Good luck!!

16

Thanks - I’m not crying yet :slight_smile:

17

I don’t want to discourage you, but I’ve not had very good experiences with international shipments being delivered by the US Postal Service. Had to wait two months for one package coming from Spain not so long ago. They had no record of it entering the country when I called and tried to blame the sender. The package did eventually arrive, but it looked like it had been around he world several times - it was so beaten up. Made me wonder if it crossed the states on a pony express!

I do hope you get your pipes soon. 9 years is a very patient wait in my book.

18

Thanks PhilD had a similar experience with a mandolin - took 4 months from NY to denmark by fedex…

on the upside Richard just sent me an email and he’s going to try and chase up the package.

I was hoping I’d be accompanying the christmas carols on pipes this year, though for the sanity of my family I should probably aim for next year.

19

:swear: I am not the one who said that. You are quoting the wrong person .

Otsaku said that. :thumbsup:

20

Your right Sirchronique, It was Otsaku who said that from which I quoted but I wonder how your name got on the quote box.
Anyways best of luck to your shipment Otsaku.