MacGregor Barrel sets

[Chris Bayley]

In addition to Elmek’s question on the ‘Ebay thread’ have received a number of questions via email from forum members about the barrel set that is currently up for sale concerning how it works.

Basically it is normal set of drones and regulators with the bores arranged to suit in a single piece of wood instead of separate sections. Instead of having a tuning slide partway along the drone it is instead at the end. IN this particular instrument the Baritone has a single bore with an extension at he reed end to give it the correct sounding length and Bass drone three bores connected in series. The Tenor bore is within the main barrel length and the Baritone bore like the baritone drone has an extension inside the main as well. Photographs can be seen on the "Pictures of your pipes thread" viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8172&start=2010 and the Ebay listing here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Uilleann-Pipe ... 43bba134a8

The main question however has been how it all works as it has been stated elsewhere that mixing reeds of different types causes tuning problems. I am not certain how this came about as have never had any trouble with either Pastoral Pipes or Barrel sets in this respect although I have come across interaction between reeds of different types on some European pipes most notably the French Cabrette.

Probably the simplest answer is as follows by looking at both MacGregor and the original makers of the Pastoral pipes many of which combined regulators (double reeds) with drones (single reeds) in the same airspace i.e.

Do you really think that they would have made these instruments in this way if there was a tuning / interaction problem. We are talking here of highly skilled and inventive people (especially MacGregor) who I am certain would have quickly changed their all in one design to one of separate bores in a solid main stock if this became apparent.

The most likely explanation for separating the drones from the regulators is a practical one as with them separated the drones can then be switched off to make adjusting the regulator(s) a lot easier.

Chris

[Mike Hulme]

Having played this set for quite some time now I can say that the design works. A drone switch is not needed to turn said drones on or off as they can be "tipped" if the player needs to adjust the regs, with only the slightest increase in bag pressure, as the set is playing very lightly. The traditional cane drone reeds have helped in this as they respond much more rapidly than the composite ones I used to use.

I have noticed no interaction between drone and regulaor reeds whatsoever. If anything I think it improves the sound as the regs sound very mellow indeed. I am very pleased with the restoration that Chris carried out.

For anyone interested in the original instrument, here's a link:

http://www.mimo-db.eu/MIMO/infodoc/ged/ ... 0683_16824