Chiff and Fipple Forums

I have often observed that as the drone slide is extended, the 'chamber' formed by the gap between the end of the tenon and the bottom of the socket gets bigger. I am not sure that this chamber is inherently a good thing; maybe it is, in moderation, but it seems to me that drones are generally more ...

For safety's sake I recommend a slightly different procedure, with dilute nitric acid and gentle heating with a heat gun. I find that this produces an excellent color, without the danger of splashing concentrated nitric acid, or the potentially even greater danger of nitrogen oxide fumes. As Geoff s...

Argentine is not closely related - it's Bulnesia sarmientoi. Different thing from the true lignums, Guiacum spp.

As they are CITES listed it will eventually be academic.

To address the original question: For ebony, this is not currently a problem. Information published by the DHS regarding Lacey Act enforcement has indicated that INDIVIDUALS travelling WITH THEIR OWN INSTRUMENTS will not be 'targeted'. Lacey Act documentation will only be required for commercial shi...

The use of metal slides is not uncommon. There are three main issues: one as Mr. G. suggests, the diameter of the cavity which is opened when the slide is extended tends to be much larger than in the case of a timber slide - unless the visual proportions of the slide are dramatically altered. The bi...

Bear in mind that the stuff being sold as lignum vitae these days is generally not the same as the old lignum - a totally different timber. Bulnesia sarmientoi is often sold as lignum these days (also known as palo santo,as are other woods). Traditionally the same lignum vitae was reserved for Guiac...

By the way, it's a great idea, to study a piper and then record an album of their music. It's a bit more involved than just picking your favourite 10 jigs and reels and booking the recording studio. Bravo!! Also. if you do it right I hear you get a certificate! ;-) Great album, and beautifully reco...

P.P.S. DON'T STRESS YOUR REED BY OPENING THE BRIDLE! That's the worst thing you can do. Why exactly do you say that, Cathy? It has been my experience that if a reed closes entirely, or even substantially, and is allowed to remain near-closed, the blades run the risk of warping. Such a reed is diffi...

The speed of sound, and thus the pitch produced by a particular air column, depends strongly on temperature. At 0C, i.e. 32F, this results in a quarter tone flattening relative to 20C / 68F. Another way of putting it is that pitch changes by nearly 3 cents per degree C or over 1.5 cents per degree F...

In the case Mick refers to, there was really no recourse or appeal. Because of recent 'harmonisation' of EU laws, lots of the previous official or de facto exceptions are gone. What I had intended to be a 'free repair and renewal' ended up costing me the equivalent of over $1000 USD. (Sorry Mick, I ...

Don't mean to sound rude, but your assumption that a conical bore should contain a quarter wavelength of the fundamental pitch isn't correct. Where did you get that? I believe the acoustic length you are looking for, for the first mode, is a half wavelength. Which will raise some problems for your r...

... Also not unimportant is to get the logics for yourself right that you basically always play in 'concert pitch'. Even with a B and C instrument you can just play the tunes that you also use for your D set and since the fingering chart/scale is the same you always play 'concert pitch' even with f...

I was reading an article on how Kalimba players can tune the overtones of a note by filing away some metal in certain places on the prongs of the instrument. The first question is , would the vibrational modes of a kalimba prong be the same as the tongue of a drone reed and if it is could the same ...

It's not really a vent key, as there are nearby open toneholes in the relevant fingerings; in fact in the case of high c#, it has the usual relationship to open toneholes in being a keyed hole just above the highest open one.

I think it's a common misconception that this is a "high d" key, when really it's for high c# and d. This makes it much more useful if in fact you ever need an in-tune second octave C#. The usual fingering is usually painfully sharp. On many chanters the cross-fingered 3rd octave d is too,...