bad advice....

[Corkpiper]

Along the same lines as the hair in the cane drone reed.... seems like just yesterday.

How about you take the cane reed and roll it between the palms of your two hands. Made a lovely cracking sound.

[Snowghost]

..."Season your bag AND your drones...just a bit of airtight'll do the trick- Otherwise, your wood will leak."
Yes, very sad, I know. Good thing I never actually followed that bit of advice. (It just sounded stupid to me.)

[heatherbelle]

Originally Posted by Bill Adam

Going from dry/hot to damp/cold, cane drone reeds would close up. So, a hair from the head or sporran was necessay to keep them playing.

This seemed to be a commom practice back then with cane drone reeds by many and saved many performances.

I see some top people do that today - not sporran hair, but human. I even dedicated one of my own to the cause.

[AlistairFyfe]

Originally Posted by heatherbelle

I see some top people do that today - not sporran hair, but human. I even dedicated one of my own to the cause.

We always found that drummer's hair worked best, and the trick is to creep up behind one without him knowing you are there or your intent!

[UpstatePiper]

My instructor gave me a hair. Said mine were too thin, and it looked like I really didn't have any to spare.



When I didn't need it in the reed I took it and put in in an envelope in my case, in case I need it again.

[Forest Piper]

Bad advice? Wet the reed with your mouth - yuck! Did someone say, black reed???

[Bobby]

Have a shot of whiskey just before going into competition. It will steady your nerves.

I was less agitated and could breathe better without the whiskey.

[Don Robertson]

Originally Posted by Scarlet O'Hair

I remember being told by some Doink that the best way to break in a reed was to bend the lips back and forth to soften it up.....

I loaned a chanter, and a brand new reed, that I spent a fair bit of time setting up and tuning, to a former member of our band at a band reunion this last month. He said the reed was too hard, and I turned to get another reed out of my case, when I turned back, much to my horror, he was bending the reed lips back and forth. I about slapped the guy. "Doink" ,I like that word.
Other than that, the worst "tip" I was given was a special recipe for bag seasoning made from bar soap and glycerin. I smelled so bad it stung my eyes, and took a week of washing and drying the bag out to get rid of the odor.

[propatriapiper]

I was told when I was about 9 years old, that warming honey and pouring it into the bag would make excellent seasoning. Can't wash that out, it needs a new bag.

[David Marshall]

Black cobblers wax hemp on the tuning pins.

Now there is newer stuff that is just really black thread, but I am talking about the gooey stuff.
A guy in our band twisted his tenor top to tune up and snapped the pin off. Nice humid summer day!
Since then I have seen many bores that are worn badly due to this kind of hemp as well.


Tone Enhancers

I have seen ones that are too tight split the stocks. I sold a set of Hendersons that I had played for about 6 years with no problems. The new owner installed tone enhancers that were too tight and within a couple of months I had the call about cracked stocks on a classic old pipe. It was too bad.