Okay guys, I still have the Boisvert chanter up for sell, along with the MacWarner bellows unknown bag.
Information with the problem: The only problem with it is that I am missing the stocks(I think)for the bag. When I pump air into the bag, it does not blow in the chanter. It just blows back out. I think it is missing the piece where it keeps the air inside the bag. I have no idea how much it costs for that piece, or if it is easy to get one. Otherwise, it is a nice bag, and the bellows and chanter are superb.
It is 1100 for the them, and S&H is added into that. I don’t think David Boisvert makes these anymore. I think he might occasionally fill in orders, but it might be a long time before you get them due to his list.
I would also consider trading for a nice flute.
The reason for selling is that I just don’t play them because I have no idea how to fix the bag, and I don’t have that much time to fiddle with them.
I would also like to add that the chanter is cocobolo with boxwood mounts. The bellows are marked #69, and it was one of the last set of bellows MacWarner made for sale. The bellows come with a waist and arm belt. Please feel free to ask any questions; I will answer them honestly to the best of my knowledge.
Hi pal, how are you? I guess you can solve the bag valve problem easily.
Just take the blowpipe out of the stock and check the leather flap that you´ll see there, watch if it´s well seated over the face of the bore; check if that surface is clean, flat, without scratches; check also if the leather/silicone/or whatever flap is too thin or weak or porous; or if it´s too small and it doesn´t covers the hole well.
Any of these symptoms can produce the effect you described. You will surely have to replace the flap.
Good luck
I am starting to think that maybe this set does not have a blowpipe, but only has the blowstock and connecting tube, and that maybe Jon is trying to fit the connecting tube over the blowstock, which would present a bit of a problem. PJ is correct that a picture would help. If the set needs a blowpipe, you might give Seth Gallagher a call (uilleann.com) and see if he will make one for you. He has always been extremely helpful to me in the past. Of course, you would need the new blowpipe/stock tied in, unless he just made the blowpipe to fit.
The cheapest and probably fastest solution would be to buy the uilleann pipe connecting hose that that is often listed on Ebay. I realize that this is of Pakistani manufacture, but I once bought one to cobble together a practice set and it worked fine. You could either “cannabalize” the piece that you’re missing from it, or adapt the whole thing to work with your bellows. Get measurements first and ask the seller (http://www.theotherworlds.com) if it would fit (the internal diameter of mine was 5/8 inches). I believe that they regularly sell Pakistani products and probably have one in stock. I would normally not advise a person to buy Pakistani-made piping products, but the wood on this piece was either rosewood or blackwood and worked out fine. I did replace the leather valve with a better functioning piece of rubber (you can find these rubber flappers really cheap too at Highland pipe supply shops). Good luck!
The only problem with this scenario is that the hose may not fit the stock it is intended for. I’m curious, I sold that set a couple of years back and it had its hose (a Kirk Lynch hose/valve/stock combo) then. What happened to it?
The hose is the less, the most is the blowpipe that is not only a wood turned piece, it has to be a working part that seal tight on each air entry; an that`s “another world”
for the untrained ejiots, could someone stick up a picture of what is actually missing on this set,
I know the whistlecollector can’t but if someone has a pic of the missing link, I know I will get a load of non uilleann related pics with that line, but a pic of the part that would need to be made or cobbled together out of an old washing up liquid bottle and some sticky back plastic would be a real help.
Hey, I like that snap-on blowpipe cover. I just outfitted my rig with one of those nifty (and REALLY rank-smelling) Na Piob washing-machine connector blowpipes, and would like an easy-access (and preferably no-sew!) way to shield my clothes and hands (and thus my boxwood chanter) from the rubber “smut.”
Limiting the rather pastoral – nay, downright agricultural – odor of the blowpipe would be nice, too.
I wonder if you can buy those covers separately. Hmmm.
I will look around though, I am completely clueless on this stuff. 
