I started to play my pipes again about a month ago and at first I thought I was really, really, awfully unfit! I could barely get through a four-part 2/4 march. I had had them fixed by Chris Mulinder (who taught me to play years and years ago) who put brass tubing into all the stocks to stop the spread of some hair-line cracks that were appearing in every stock. He did an awesome job, and my pipes were good to go… or so I thought. After about 2 weeks of almost passing out every time I looked at my set, I played my brother’s, and it was heaven… the reed was no lighter than mine, but the bag stayed full a whole lot longer than my set did. I can’t believe that I didn’t think to check the bag for leaks before I just started hammering away at tunes!

It turned out that there was a major leak just above the chanter stock and the bag would visibly deflate in about 20 seconds when I corked up all the stocks! After a visit to Chris (we all just call him ‘Pipes’) and some secret-recipe resin that he mixed up, they were good to go. But the problem didn’t go away, and Craig and I found another leak around the chanter stock. I’ll visit Pipes next week for some more of that resin.

I’ll upload photos of my set as soon as I can… I’m not too happy with them to be honest. They are a beautiful set and just the weight I like to have on my shoulder, but the issues are just not worth it. I too a look at Owen’s set at practice last week (he plays a set of Mulinder’s) and I have to say I’m impressed. I didn’t buy a set from Chris when I left school because they seemed to me to be a bit small and light. But age and wisdom go hand in hand most of the time, and I’m realising now that I really couldn’t give a sh*t what the look like, as long as they’re made well and sound good… and Chris Mulinder’s bagpipes have the most mellow, soothing drones I’ve ever heard – and I’m sure that he can make them a bit heavier if I ask him to. When I’ve got some cash I think I’ll go have a look at what he can make for me.