Latest from the Workshop

[Mike Hulme]

I have just completed this McGregor style 4 drone Barrel unit, in Palo Santo. The 4th drone plays A or G between baritone and tenor rather than above it, giving a nice rich sound. Here are some photos and a soundclip. Please excuse the sound quality and the slight wobble in the drones as the reeds are not yet properly bedded in. A light tweaking tonight will sort that out. As you can see, the mainstock has been bored for tenor and baritone regulators, which I will eventually get around to.

These will be up for sale once tweaked.





Here is the soundclip:

http://www.hairbyhulme.co.uk/psb2.mp3

[amckay]

Hi Mike

Can you explain the benefits of having all the drones bundled into the one piece of wood? From the looks of things, it doesn't seem too much more compact than a traditional drone set (even with a triple bore bass drone). This may just be the angle the photograph was taken on... Also, how do you access the reeds?
Nice work btw.

Andrew

[Elmek]

Looks a bit shorter here

Some years ago I can remember seeing a set of these with regulators as well

Would guess they are good for travelling with

John

[fiddlerwill]

I can think of a few off hand; tuning stability if you use synthetic reeds ie ; no requirement to dissemble to put in box. Weight i would imagine, as all that metal in my 'standard' set weighs quite a bit. Transportability, much shorter, so can be packed in a rucksac. same length as the chanter is it not? hardyness IMO would be less fragile in general. If your like me I end up walking around the house dealing with my wee daughter while still strapped in! Handy in sessions requiring less space, so can be closer to your companions. My left ear is stronger so I always like to be on the right of my main partner, as a lefty that means my drones can get in the way...

looks lovely that PS wood mike, its come up gloriously with the polish.

[Mike Hulme]

Thank you for the favourable comments!

Andrew,

The barrel unit pulls out of the mainstock to reveal the bass and baritone reeds. The tenor and quint drone reeds are in separate bores and their drones and tuning slides pull out together with their reeds. This particular set up is not noticeably more compact than a traditional style set, due to having the regulators. The two regulator sockets dictate the size of the mainstock, hence the size approaches that of a standard set. Just for interest the diameter of the barrel mainstock is 6.6 cm. and a standard mainstock is 6.3 cm. as measured by me just now. The weight is about the same as a standard set.

The main advantage of having all the drones in a common stock/airspace is the phase-lock effect, which enriches the total sound. The disadvantage of this is that the baritone drone, which is commonly too strident may be reinforced, so to this end I have made a synthetic baritone reed which is noticeably quieter and the tone is much more mellow. To achieve this with a cane reed would mean that the reed bore would have to be smaller and the whole reed considerably longer, which would require a longer stock cup to accommodate it.

Will,

They are good for traveling with - their other advantage; my favourite set for sessions is a standard three drone barrel unit which is the same as in John's photo. They don't get in anyone's way and you can squeeze in at busy sessions. I use Bruce Childress's synthetic drone reeds in that set and I have not had to tune them or alter playing pressure in them for at least five years, since I rescued them from a Yorkshire piper who claimed that barrel drones could not work - a pipemaker had told him! His loss.

I am currently making another barrel set, this time in blackwood, and have got the barrel diameter down to 4 cm. as opposed to nearly 5cm. in the current set. I'll post photos once it is finished.

[Douglas]

Good job Mike.

It looks very nice.

[Mike Hulme]

Thanks Douglas!

How's your barrel set going?

[Douglas]

The set is playing nicely. I would like to make one of these too, just to make one. They are practical, you can put a half set in you backpack, which you can’t do with a normal half set. I seem to have less and less time to play though. And I get on this site very rarely these days.

My kids are getting older and thus require more of my time. My daughter is now a teenager and that is about the scariest thing I have ever experienced.

Keep up the good work. It is good that Chris has a protégé.

[iaincwil]

looks very interesting! think I may have plans for regulators looks similsr two regulators in one,

mick

[Mike Hulme]

Chris Bayley did that very thing with this three-quarter barrel set of pipes:



This set also has four drones, with both drones and regs in the same stock. An extremely nice piece of workmanship, and they played beautifully.

They now belong to a piper in Northumbria.

[Brazenkane]

I've never seen that before. It's looks so unusual. How about sounds to all these pics?

[Mike Hulme]

Unfortunately I only had that set in my hands for a few hours. I was at the NWUP meeting before I had to hand it over to its' new owner and did not get a chance to record it. Mikie Smith did comment on how well it looked and sounded however.

McGregor made a few sets like this, a couple with the baritone reg having only a long "spacebar" type D key.

[anima]

what is the phase lock effect?

[Mike Hulme]

Phase locking is what happens when separate forces act together, reinforcing the whole. In a standard UP set up we have three drone reeds in their separate reed bores being supplied with air. Each reed is doing its' own thing quite happily and the player is happy that his drones are sounding as they should.

If you take those three reeds and put them close to each other in the same air space, i.e. a hollow mainstock or a barrel unit, the result of each reed vibrating is to blend in with the others, producing an increase in power and volume. It is more noticeable when the reeds are out of tune slightly - the effect is reduced and the drones sound quieter as well as being out of tune. As the tuning slides brings the out of tune notes into pitch the effect is restored and the volume (vibration) increases.

A group of soldiers marching across a bridge are ordered to "break step" when crossing, so that the vibration caused by their march is randomised and the sympathetic vibration does not cause damage to the bridge's structure.

This is a very simplistic explanation; I am sure other more knowledgeable people could add more.

[Steampacket]

"My kids are getting older and thus require more of my time. My daughter is now a teenager and that is about the scariest thing I have ever experienced. " Douglas.

Hold out Douglas, they can be quite wild and nearly drive you insane between the ages of 13-17 then they usually mellow out. I've survived three teenage daughters and they are fine young women now, one's a scenographer in the film/TV world, one's just finished law school, and the youngest has nearly finished her apprenticeship on Saville Row and will be a master tailor next year I'm sure you daughter will turn out fine.

Mike, your pipes look really nice