Did you ever notice that adventures are never fun while you are having them, but retelling them afterwards makes everyone laugh?
I'm still having this adventure. It's not fun.
On the second day of the Salt Lake Highland Games (June 2018), my bass drone refused to strike in correctly. It was almost as if it preferred to be a tenor drone, thankyouverymuch, and would not jump down the octave.
I tried many things:
New chanter reed. No change
New drone reed (Small Son's). No change.
- I re-treated my hide bag to make sure it wasn't losing any air, discovering in the process that it was supposed to be done every six weeks, instead of every four months. (Oops.) No change.
PM tried to play them and determined that it wasn't me (his first thought), because it did the same thing for him. He checked hemping, and then he checked the bass drone for cracks. There were TWO on the lower section of the bass drone! So he rummaged through his drone-yard collection of pipe parts and found a spare. I installed it, re-hemping in the process. No change.
- I thought it might be the rest of the drone, so PM rummaged through the bone-yard again and found me the other two sections of bass drone. I swapped them out, checking hemping in the process. No change.
- I tried playing Rob's spare set, but it obviously needed some work, as keeping the bag inflated was a hurculean task.
- I tried playing Small Son's set, ditto.
Chris kindly let me play his pipes one practice evening. I was afraid it was going to be difficult to play, as well, but it was so easy! It was lovely to pipe again, and exhilarating to realize that it wasn't me that was the issue, but also frustrating because I didn't know what the issue was!
I went over all the parts of my pipes, re-checking the bag, and the hemping of drones, chanter, blowpipe . . . everything. I found another crack in the stock of the bass drone (this is the part that sticks into the bag, and is very carefully tied into the leather to make it airtight)! The crack didn't show on the outside, but it was definitely on the inside.
PM rummaged through the drone-yard a third time and found another stock. This happened last Wednesday, when he had to go somewhere for work and wasn't going to be at practice, and I was flying out to Minneapolis that evening, and wasn't going to be there either, AND it was going to pour buckets shortly. He wrapped the stock very thoroughly in plastic and tape, and left it on the side of the dock driveway of his place of work. I found it 5-10 minutes later, and only minutes before the rain hit. Then I went to Minnesota (via Boston).
I still have the replacement stock in my pipe case, but not in my pipes. Taking the old one out won't be a problem, I don't think (unless I accidentally slash my $300 pipe bag), but tying it back in is another story. I tied in the previous stock a YEAR AGO, with help from Pipe Sargent Trevor. I can't even remember what I did a MONTH AGO. And I haven't had a spare minute to take care of this tiny issue since last Wednesday, so I still don't have working pipes.
And Sheep Dog Trials are THIS WEEKEND! Sheep Dog Trials require ALL HANDS ON DECK. Small groups of pipers and drummers play from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and the whole band plays for the closing ceremony on Monday afternoon. It's a colossal effort.
Guess I'm going on another trip. A Guilt Trip.
I'm still having this adventure. It's not fun.
On the second day of the Salt Lake Highland Games (June 2018), my bass drone refused to strike in correctly. It was almost as if it preferred to be a tenor drone, thankyouverymuch, and would not jump down the octave.
I tried many things:
New chanter reed. No change
New drone reed (Small Son's). No change.
- I re-treated my hide bag to make sure it wasn't losing any air, discovering in the process that it was supposed to be done every six weeks, instead of every four months. (Oops.) No change.
PM tried to play them and determined that it wasn't me (his first thought), because it did the same thing for him. He checked hemping, and then he checked the bass drone for cracks. There were TWO on the lower section of the bass drone! So he rummaged through his drone-yard collection of pipe parts and found a spare. I installed it, re-hemping in the process. No change.
- I thought it might be the rest of the drone, so PM rummaged through the bone-yard again and found me the other two sections of bass drone. I swapped them out, checking hemping in the process. No change.
- I tried playing Rob's spare set, but it obviously needed some work, as keeping the bag inflated was a hurculean task.
- I tried playing Small Son's set, ditto.
Chris kindly let me play his pipes one practice evening. I was afraid it was going to be difficult to play, as well, but it was so easy! It was lovely to pipe again, and exhilarating to realize that it wasn't me that was the issue, but also frustrating because I didn't know what the issue was!
I went over all the parts of my pipes, re-checking the bag, and the hemping of drones, chanter, blowpipe . . . everything. I found another crack in the stock of the bass drone (this is the part that sticks into the bag, and is very carefully tied into the leather to make it airtight)! The crack didn't show on the outside, but it was definitely on the inside.
PM rummaged through the drone-yard a third time and found another stock. This happened last Wednesday, when he had to go somewhere for work and wasn't going to be at practice, and I was flying out to Minneapolis that evening, and wasn't going to be there either, AND it was going to pour buckets shortly. He wrapped the stock very thoroughly in plastic and tape, and left it on the side of the dock driveway of his place of work. I found it 5-10 minutes later, and only minutes before the rain hit. Then I went to Minnesota (via Boston).
I still have the replacement stock in my pipe case, but not in my pipes. Taking the old one out won't be a problem, I don't think (unless I accidentally slash my $300 pipe bag), but tying it back in is another story. I tied in the previous stock a YEAR AGO, with help from Pipe Sargent Trevor. I can't even remember what I did a MONTH AGO. And I haven't had a spare minute to take care of this tiny issue since last Wednesday, so I still don't have working pipes.
And Sheep Dog Trials are THIS WEEKEND! Sheep Dog Trials require ALL HANDS ON DECK. Small groups of pipers and drummers play from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and the whole band plays for the closing ceremony on Monday afternoon. It's a colossal effort.
Guess I'm going on another trip. A Guilt Trip.
