Norden Sackpipa Association of the Americas (NSAA)

I enjoyed the vids, Olle. Thanks for posting!

I finally know what my June schedule looks like. Unfortunately, my duties at the music school where I teach won't allow me to attend the pipers' meeting. It would have been a great occasion to meet yo ...

Olle, you're probably right and I have to admit that I haven't explored Flemish or German pipes much. Just for the record though, I have seen bass drones pointing forward on some french pipes as shown ...

That looks to be a set of french cornemuse du centre minus the medium drone. I am in the process of making one of these and the chanter looks and sounds identical.

I stole the idea from Boris Favre. It must be a North American thing. I just recently started adding the thumb or double G hole in the last year or so. I don't mind making it either way. The set I pla ...

Bill, it would appear that the shorter chanter on your pictures is an E/A and the longer one is likely in G. They are both very close to the Leif Ericksson dimensions that I have seen so my guess is t ...

Nice one, Aaron!

As someone who makes pipes for different people there is always varying feedback and special requests to take into consideration. The double holes on swedish chanters are sometimes a problem for playe ...

Lately, I have been using elastic tubing used for sling shots as bridles. It's a yellowish rubber that you can get at specialty sporting or army surplus shops. It doesn't roll around and fits nice and ...

I do recall that there was some flexibility for experimenting with the long drone indeed. I thought, however, that the initial drawing was loosely based on a discussion that you had had with Alban and ...

Seth, I've been hearing a lot of positive reviews about your synth reeds. I'd love to try one out.

Regarding my long drone bores, I actually go much narrower than that. The reason why Aaron's long drone has a wide bore is that I made his according to a set of drawings that he had sent me which I un ...

I use a trumpet gigbag for my pipes. It is not a hard case but it's very light and it protects the pipes well with room to spare. There is usually a wooden disc at the bottom of the gigbag to protect ...

I'd like to see some photos of the meet too if anyone has some to share. Visuals always leave a good impression although I'm sure that the music was great too. Needless to say, I would have loved to c ...

Will there be anyone sticking around on the sunday 20th? Like I mentioned in a previous post, i have to perform in Vancouver on the 18th and it would take me most of the 19th if I were to travel to Mi ...

I've never reached the point where I felt ready to play the UP's for anyone but myself and friends. I'm a pianist by trade but I'm also a fairly solid bass player which is what I'll be playing at this ...

That's a great idea, Seth! I'll give that a try sometime.

Sounds like a great opportunity. I would love to come but I have to perform at the Vancouver Celtic festival on the friday 18th, something that I definitely can not get out of. I'll see if I can maybe ...

Assuming we transpose the tune to play on an A chanter, which is what I have done. Are the C's played in C# or C-nat ? I get C# as Olle stated when he said to tune to major, but it almost sounds rig ...

Seth, if you are transposing this tune it will need to be a G nat.

As you know, this is a modal tune which has a different character than major and minor scales. I have a feeling that what sounds o ...

I've tried Hardie's Airtight twice now and I have found that the leather dries out after a few years and the bag becomes hard and very unpleasant to use. Perhaps the leather that I was using was prone ...

I'm clearing out some extra tools that I don't find myself using much. One of these is a 9/32" gun drill that is suitable for drilling sackpipa bores. Email me if you're interested. I have other ...

I tried the little Mac on my last 2 sets. Works great. I also came across the moose valve here http://www.tartantown.com/maintenance_items.html . It's pricy but it sounds like a good performer based o ...

That was a great idea to make resin sets, Seth. It will make pipes much more accessible to people on a budget. Was it easy to get a nice fit for the tenons?

My preferred valve is a type of rubber material which I get at the local Highland bagpipes supplier. The popular Simon Fraser University Pipeband is in the neighboring municipality to Vancouver (Burna ...

I was watching the local news this evening and they reported that there is an infestation of Phragmites growing around Central/Eastern Canada's lake shores. Apparently, residents are having trouble ac ...

I have done a number of experiments making drones of various lengths, using different reeds (composite, cane, synthetic, etc.), with both straight and stepped bores, and I have found that fitting an e ...

I like the idea of using canvas-type materials. Let us know how it holds after a few months of playing. FYI, I have just posted a new bag-making demo http://www3.telus.net/bo/bag-insidestitch.htm whic ...

I enjoyed that, Jan. Thanks for the link and I look forward to the next posting.
Bo

I just got my technopipes last week. It is a great addition to having a real bagpipe and I have no regrets having spent the money. I agree that it has its limitations but, being a night owl, it's allo ...