Who'd have thought… (Squealing drones)

[Klondike Waldo]

Over the past few weeks I've been setting up a set of back-up/foul weather pipes- ABC Poly drones and stocks, old RG Hardie chanter tied into a unknown synthetic bag (white), and practicing them alternating with my ABW 1979 G&M.
They were playing very well over the last couple of weeks, so I thought I'd play them in a parade today. In prepartion for today's gig, I changed the bag cover to match the uniform yesterday afternoon
Last night's practice was a disaster- drones sqealing on strike-in and on cut-off. No amount of bridle tweaking would correct it, nor did changing out the reeds.

After 20 minutes of tryimg to square things away, I put them aside and picked the tried-and true G&Ms for the parade. They were rock solid for the whole parade- (marched and played the whole mile and a half route , without a break, solo)

So, when I got home, I thought about the previous evening's fail and guessed the difference was in the bag cover. I put the previous bag cover back on and the pipes struck in clean, played steady and also cut off cleanly.

I believe the cause was that the synthetic bag is somewhat elastic, and the old cover, being tighter, kept it from ballooning out of shape, so pressure within the bag remained under control.
Anyomeelse ever run into this effect?

[Doug Walton]

I doubt the bag cover was the cause.

[el gaitero]

Originally Posted by Doug Walton

I doubt the bag cover was the cause

.

Yes , no disrespect meant but my initial thot was somehow the Indian.....the conglomerate of parts possibly contributing .

[Klondike Waldo]

Originally Posted by Doug Walton

I doubt the bag cover was the cause.

I would have said so myself, had I not experienced it. The second bag cover was loose the first was snug. The ONLY difference between the set up on Wednesday and Friday nights was the bag cover. The bag itself is a white synthetic material of unknown origin, which I picked up used for $25. The bag cover fits quite snug, so my theory is that the bag itself is too elastic without a "Girdle".

( I'd never buy this type of bag again)

When I have time, I'll repeat the experiment, but not today as I'm off to play for a funeral.

[Klondike Waldo]

Originally Posted by el gaitero

Yes , no disrespect meant but my initial thot was somehow the Indian.....the conglomerate of parts possibly contributing .

No disrespect taken, but this Indian has been piping for 40 years and has been a professional musician for 50. Not my first rodeo, and not my first troubleshooting exercise.

[piper_hm]

Originally Posted by Doug Walton

I doubt the bag cover was the cause.

Yep...

[el gaitero]

Originally Posted by Klondike Waldo

No disrespect taken, but this Indian has been piping for 40 years and has been a professional musician for 50. Not my first rodeo, and not my first troubleshooting exercise.

Be interested to hear your result if doing the bag cover swap over again, and also without a cover.

[Doug Walton]

Agreed. If it’s repeatable, that will be interesting!

[CalumII]

Like many of us, I have experienced the hoary old piping expert, dripping with Gold Medals and accumulated honours, holding forth: "now, young pipers, one thing that is often not realised is the importance of the bag cover. It must be nice and tight, so that when the bag is blown up the cover maintains pressure on it, which improves your stability."


Seems reasonable.


However, I've also experienced a different hoary old piping expert, also dripping with medals and clasps powder horns: "now, young pipers, a thing I often see is a bag cover that is too tight. It's very important that the bag can freely expand to its full size, allowing you maintain stability."

[Klondike Waldo]

I'll have a go at re-creating the scenario tonight and will report back.

As for the Hoary old piping expert- two thoughts:
1. He may not have dealt with synthetic bags of unknown origin…
2. Maybe the Goldilocks principle applies, that tha bag cover shoud be just tight enough, but not too tight.
We'll see