The EMS Bagpipe kit

This edition is from our archives, so it is presented as scanned pages rather than text.

WHERE TO GET IT

Masking tape, PTFE tape, bath sealant - any good DIY shop Beeswax - old-fashioned ironmongers or good woodwork shop. Slide grease, tuning fork - good music shop. Vaseline, dental floss - chemist. Goldbeater’s skin, brass wire, reed rush, reed twine - Howarth’s, Chiltern St. (near Baker St, London) - also sell cane for reed making. Hemp thread - Duncan MacRae Ltd, 328 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh (near castle) - also sell Highland pipes and accessories.

The above are only suggestions, of course, and you may be able to find other suppliers of the more specialised materials nearer home. Good Luck!

David Van Doorn, January 1986

Making and Maintaining the Early Music Shop Bagpipe Kit

I have heard little good said about the Early Music Shop Bagpipe Kit. This is a pity, because when well made and set up it is an impressive instrument, with powerful drones tuned to the relatively unusual but probably authentic interval of a fifth, and a limited but good sounding chanter. I use mine a lot, and have relatively little trouble with it. However, this is not the experience of many people.

There are two main reasons why this instrument proves disappointing for so many people. One is that, while EMS have provided good instructions for making the pipe, they’ve left a lot unsaid about setting it up and reeding it, and this is far harder than merely putting it together. The second problem is that in order to make a good job of setting any bagpipe up it is really necessary to be able to play it in the first place, otherwise how will you know what’s right and what’s wrong? Since most makers of the EMS kit are beginners, they face almost insoluble problems. To help them, here are some ideas and methods of ’tweaking’ that I have found useful.

The Bag
When sewing the bag it is not necessary to push the needles directly into the leather. You can use a bradawl, but it must be modified first. Grind or file it so it’s round and nice and thin, then use abrasive paper to make it perfectly smooth. Like this it will push the leather fibres apart rather than cut them so that the resulting hole will tend to close up around the thread.

Do not let the neck get too narrow as this will make the process of turning the bag inside out almost impossible. This process is aided by dressing the seams before turning inside out, see below.

The dressing suggested by EMS is grand fun to make, but having made it, the best thing to do is to throw it away as it is worse than useless as a dressing. It dries out and stops sealing, it grows huge amounts of mould, it gets on the drone reeds and stops them working - so don’t use it! Either use a proprietary brand of Highland pipe dressing, or make it yourself from beeswax and olive oil. Heat some olive oil and dissolve in enough beeswax so that when the mixture is cold it is about the consistency of Vaseline. If haven’t worked out the exact ratio of oil to wax - you’ll have to do it yourself by trial and error.

Having made this, work some into the seam and stitching while it’s still warm. This seals any leaks in the seam and lubricates the bag which helps in the turning inside out process. When the stocks are bound in, pour molten dressing into the bag and work it into the leather, particularly the areas where the bag meets the stocks. Don’t put too much in and, when it’s

cooled, use an old recorder mop to remove any dressing in the drone and chanter stocks. Getting dressing on the reeds, particularly the drone reeds, is a common source of problems. It makes drone reeds sticky and liable to ‘clap’, i.e. for the tongue to shut and stay shut.

EMS say that the bag once inflated should lose no air over the course of an hour. This is rather a counsel of perfection; if it stays airtight for five minutes that is quite adequate.

The Drones
EMS provide twine to bind the drone sections with. This tends not to hold the sections firmly enough. Most music shops stock cork for use by clarinettists and the like and this is much better than twine. Get the thick variety, cut it to size, and glue on with Evo Stik. Sand it if too thick, put Sellotape on if too thin.

The drone reeds are a bit tricky. The first thing to realise is that Highland pipers buy dozens of the things at a time, and sort through for good ones. The chances of the ones with your kit being good ones are fairly slim. This is not to say they’re not good reeds; they are. It’s just in the nature of these things that they’re very variable. The same is true to a lesser extent with chanter reeds. So stock up with half-a-dozen of each size, more if you’re feeling extravagant. A word of warning: good reeds are not often available outside Scotland. Most high street music shops have reeds by a firm called Barnes and Mullins. These are really dreadful; avoid them like the plague. You’ll probably have to write to Grainger and Campbell or another reputable Highland firm. Here is Grainger and Campbell’s address: Grainger and Campbell Ltd, 42 Westgarth Place, College Milton N., East Kilbride, Glasgow G74 5NT.

The tongues of the bass reeds particularly seem to be a bit short. If the reed tends to clap, you can try leaving it overnight with a matchstick or similar under the tongue. If this fails, you may have to make the tongue longer by splitting it. Take the bridle off, and gently pull the tongue until it starts to split. Replace the bridle, or make a new one. A bit of Cling Film round the base of the tongue can be helpful; you don’t want air escaping through the non-vibrating part of the tongue below the bridle. Another important trick, which you should try before splitting the tongue, is to put a small blob of wax on the top of the tongue (the reed’s, not yours). In fact, you’ll almost always have to do this. It lowers the pitch of the reed, but seems to stabilise it.

Always make sure the reeds are fitted squarely into the base of the drone. There is a design fault in that the stock is rather narrow, and the bass reeds especially can touch the side of it with disastrous results. I have opened out the bottom of the bass drone stock on my pipe. I did this on a lathe, but if you don’t have access to one you could do it with sandpaper.

The Chanter
Again, the main problem here is the reed, and again, it is important to get hold of a few good ones. They are ordinary Highland pipe reeds, by the way, EMS just supply them cut short. All Highland reeds have an enormous ‘shoulder’ on them which makes them very hard to blow, so this has to be removed. Do this with a Stanley Knife with a new blade, or a Swann and Morton scalpel with a No.10, 11, or 10A blade. Never use razor blades for scraping reeds. Also useful is a file made of a scrap of wood (6 mm by 0.5 mm) with a bit of 120 grit abrasive paper glued to it. You can take most of the shoulder off with this, but finish with a metal blade. I like to use a plaque in between the blades of the reed; the kind used for oboe reeds is ideal. Keep the reed wet while working, and test it frequently to see how easily it speaks. When it starts to feel right, check it in the chanter. You can get extra control over the reed by making a bridle for it from a couple of turns of 24SWG copper wire. This allows you to regulate the tip opening, and to open the blades if you’ve weakened them by scraping. As with drone reeds, some reeds won’t work; with experience you’ll recognise these quickly and won’t waste time on them.

I hope some of these ideas prove useful to EMS pipemakers and others. Everyone has their own ideas of how to do these things, and I’m not suggesting mine are right or better than anyone else’s; they’re just little dodges that have worked for me. I’d be pleased to hear of any other ideas and comments. If anyone would like help with EMS pipes, my address is:

7, The Bank
Somersham
Nr HUNTINGDON
Cambs
Phone (0487) 842601

Jim Parr