Chiff and Fipple Forums

I use a utility knife with a fresh blade and a wooden kitchen cutting board. I have seen a tool at Sears that had a blade and an anvil that was perpendicular that would do the job. My dear friend Bernard (RIP) had one and it worked great. I think the cost ran around $35, but that was about 2 or 3 ye...

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My bug-a-boo is hornpipes played as fast as a reel. You gotta have time to do the triplets crisp and in time and you just don't sound right when you have to leave them out for the sake of speed. I like the leasurely and laid back speed of single jigs like "Off She Goes". Someone needs to c...

My hard D on my C set is in tune, but the soft D is flat. I haven't found the right geometry of my reed to get those in tune

On Mick O Brian's CD The May Morning Dew, on that song, he even gets a hard and soft E that were in tune. That's really neat.

We are blessed these days by the number of excellent makers today. I suspect that Seth Gallagher could be added to the list as well. The C chanter of his is that I have is easy to reed. I can't get top D on it yet, but the E's and F#'s are nicely tuned. The C Nat is very nice.

MTGuru said: "Since the world is going to end on December 21, 2012, I'm all in favor of adding as many extra months in between as possible." Amen to that. As well, I would like to have the same weather and health as I had today. I had an awesome St. Patrick's day this year with no green be...

I always thought that it was y'all that did things bass ackwards. BTW,Whoever heard of a bonnet on a car?

I had the opportunity to hear a Froment D full set when I attended the St. Louis Tionol and I would describe it as sweet, well balanced and in tune, a bit more nasal sounding and a bit quieter than other makers. I very much enjoyed listening to them. IIRC it had soft and hard ds in tune, which is ra...

I am practicing with an Old Time band tonight.

I tune my drones first, then use my ears to tune the chanter and regs, so My reference is either D or C.

The Irish Piper's Club has a nice article on the tuning of the pipes in the 2006 Winter issue that might answer some questions.

Uilleann Pipes Reed Adjustment Compendium

I think these haven't been mentioned yet:
C and D tuning forks or Farley's electronic tuning fork
Poster putty
Broken reed to form poster putty in holes that need tuning
Linen thread and/or dental floss for tenons/reed seat
backup reeds
Neck extention for C chanter

Is it essential now to discard the drones and take advantage of the harmonic possibilities offered by a keyboard? Down with keyboards. I can't stand a wash of synth music mixed with pipes. Pipes and solo pipes, especially the flat sets, make the best slow airs. Listen to sean nos (old style) singer...

I play two types of rolls with F#, on the knee and off the knee. On the knee, sound F#, cut with A then pat with silence by briefly closing the chanter by patting with the bottom middle finger. Off the knee, it is a bit more complicated as the timing of raising off the knee is critical in making it ...

My son prefers to record with 3 1" condenser mics (I believe they have a 12AT7 tube), one 18" away from the A hole on the chanter, another over the shoulder of the piper directed towards back D and one 18" away from the end of the baritone drone to pick up drones and regs. He ends up ...

Just keep the rhythm steady. I, too, tend to enjoy the tunes more when played "southern style" or laid back and rock steady for dance tunes. And then there are the airs!