redneck
25-02-10, 09:12 AM
Due to my continuing unemployment, and boredom lol, I offered to set up my my friend Scott Wallace's newly acquired Stark drones. ( just love messin' about wi drones )
These duly arrived as I said........a bundle of sticks.
Step one, ripped of all the old mixture of hemp thread 'n crap.
Step two, brushed all drones thoroughly......( no oil, I'll explain later ;-) )
Step three, rubbed some cobblers wax on the bare hemping pins, waxed the first foot or so then continued on with the hemping. When the correct amount was applied I then sealed the hemp with cork grease. The tops were easily brought down onto the button mounts ( sign of a good bore ), once this was done I fitted the pipe cords.
The reeds, Scott had two cartons of dolly mixture cane reeds for me to pick from.
The next step is how I set his drones up with cane reeds. ( a must fer SLOT )
My tenor reed was used as a guide, I corked off the remaining tenor and bass, used mine as a guide setting the desired height on the tuning pin to his band chanter.
Then came the task of finding a reed to match the position of the outside tenor, once that was done the bass was last in line.
Sorted.
Blew them up without the chanter just to get a feel of the drone sound. TBH I didn't know what to expect, but these particular drones are a great set. Bass is a tad lower than my Logan's tuning height ways, but I set it to where he requested, tenors have roughly 1/4'' of hemp showing.
Nice deep bass complimenting two warm tenors which lock in beautifully. Had to keep checking both were indeed going.
Now, my reason for not oiling is that these had been lying a while, so I've told him to blow them for a while prior to a light oiling.
My only reservations are these have a shitty shellac finish, al be telling him to take them to Fraser Warnock to get them stripped and a buffed waxed finish.
These pipes have the Stark heavy duty beading and the tiniest ferrules av ever seen, lovely bell tops capped off wi Ivory. Short tuning pins on the tenors, button mounts.
The more I look at these pipes the more I like them, it was a great afternoon, but I also learned a few things myself too working with a pipe of this age.
Hope they serve him well in his future with SLOT, no problems wi these pipes, if anything is wrong it'll be him / drone reeds. ATM these pipes are boomin'.
Good luck m8.
( very easily reeded for a pipe of this vintage.)
These duly arrived as I said........a bundle of sticks.
Step one, ripped of all the old mixture of hemp thread 'n crap.
Step two, brushed all drones thoroughly......( no oil, I'll explain later ;-) )
Step three, rubbed some cobblers wax on the bare hemping pins, waxed the first foot or so then continued on with the hemping. When the correct amount was applied I then sealed the hemp with cork grease. The tops were easily brought down onto the button mounts ( sign of a good bore ), once this was done I fitted the pipe cords.
The reeds, Scott had two cartons of dolly mixture cane reeds for me to pick from.
The next step is how I set his drones up with cane reeds. ( a must fer SLOT )
My tenor reed was used as a guide, I corked off the remaining tenor and bass, used mine as a guide setting the desired height on the tuning pin to his band chanter.
Then came the task of finding a reed to match the position of the outside tenor, once that was done the bass was last in line.
Sorted.
Blew them up without the chanter just to get a feel of the drone sound. TBH I didn't know what to expect, but these particular drones are a great set. Bass is a tad lower than my Logan's tuning height ways, but I set it to where he requested, tenors have roughly 1/4'' of hemp showing.
Nice deep bass complimenting two warm tenors which lock in beautifully. Had to keep checking both were indeed going.
Now, my reason for not oiling is that these had been lying a while, so I've told him to blow them for a while prior to a light oiling.
My only reservations are these have a shitty shellac finish, al be telling him to take them to Fraser Warnock to get them stripped and a buffed waxed finish.
These pipes have the Stark heavy duty beading and the tiniest ferrules av ever seen, lovely bell tops capped off wi Ivory. Short tuning pins on the tenors, button mounts.
The more I look at these pipes the more I like them, it was a great afternoon, but I also learned a few things myself too working with a pipe of this age.
Hope they serve him well in his future with SLOT, no problems wi these pipes, if anything is wrong it'll be him / drone reeds. ATM these pipes are boomin'.
Good luck m8.
( very easily reeded for a pipe of this vintage.)