Beware!
StG
If I know Piper, and I’m not saying I do, he is cleaning his pipes regularly.
Nae chance!
I’m conservative in my piping habits, and keep to the traditional cow leather bag, which might have saved this poor sod:
The cow leather bag needs seasoning every few month with the classic Airtight Seasoning. Exact composition is a trade secrets, but it includes lye, which handles noxious little bugs.
The newer bags are made from plastic composites, which don’t breathe nearly as well. They don’t need the seasoning, but they do need regular cleaning, because the moisture builds up in them
This is one of the reason’s my spouse would tell his students never to eat or drink anything but water while playing the pipes. You don’t want to encourage anything nasty to grow in there.
We also used to clean the things regularly. I’m not convinced the old leather bags were that superior - Piper’s Lung isn’t new in the 21st Century and given that I started prior to the new materials coming out I’ve seen plenty of leather bags that had unpleasant things inside or were outright rotting.
There’s also supposed to be a one-way valve in the bottom of the blowpipe to prevent backflow of the air from the bag. It’s mainly for airflow efficiency but it also helps keep nasties in the bag and out of the musician.
A moist climate also has an effect. In the old days different leathers were used in different regions - sheepskin in the UK was pretty common, heavier leathers in drier parts of the US.
Whiskey would be OK, surely?
Bagpipe music, for a start.
Ow, ow, stop hitting me, I was joking. Mostly.
Only if you’re playing the Irish pipes
You mean the civillised pipes that are played sitting down. Much less chance of being shot by an enemy (or friendly fire depending on your ability)
Airtight bag seasoning just sounds so naughty.
Dornt gie fungus in yer lungus, Angus!
I fixed the title to remove the typo in Northern Piper’s name. Unless that was intentional and I’ll change it back.
This made me laugh.
I play pipes as well, and my new composite bag has a zipper that I’m meant to open (and do) whenever I’m not playing to help air the bag out. If I suddenly start to get mysterious lung ailments, I’ll quit playing the pipes and see if that helps. Poor man: he must have been very determined to keep playing daily with only 1/3 of his lung capacity. The pipes require a lot out of me, at least as a novice, and I couldn’t have managed to play at his point of deterioration.
Well they’ve been killing innocent bystanders for millennia!
[sub]Sorry, bagpipers are the only musicians we banjo players are allowed to make fun of. Kinda like how people in Alabama make fun of Mississippi.[/sub]
Thanks, Loach!
StG
Also referred to as “Glasgow snot” because, well, that’s what it looks like. Nasty headcold pustulent snot.
If you’ve heard one song on the bagpipes, you’ve heard them both.