Musical Instrument Repair And Maintainance

by Mickie Zekley   "When I was a young man, before I would play the flute, I would put it in the rain barrel over night. But don't you know that one day it just fell to pieces." Quote from an old time player from Clare. Many an Irish musician has destroyed his fine old instrument by pouring Guinness or "Paddy's" through it to make it play better, and in the process, turned a fine 150 year old treasure from a master craftsman into tinder for the fire. With proper care, these fine old wooden flutes can be a joy...

On RestorationOr, My Flute has a Huge Crack In It by Casey Burns   I have been restoring many old flutes for Lark in the Morning lately, so I thought I would share a few observations, do's and don'ts. If you have an old instrument that needs repair or restoration, I recommend finding a competent repair person to handle the task rather than doing it yourself. Finding a competent repair person isn't easy, however. The lot of most wind instrument repair persons is repairing band instruments of the grade or high school variety; they may not be aware of your...

Bodhran CareKeep It Alive And Happy Traditionally, the bodhran is a goatskin drum which lives in damp, green Ireland. However, since wandering Irish minstrels have spread the music all over the world, the poor bodhran often finds itself far from the cool green shores. Bodhrans who live in hot dry places need special help to stay alive. If you have a goatskin head on your drum, and live in an area where the weather is very dry or hotter than 75 degrees for long periods, you will notice that the drum head becomes very tight. Drums have been known to...

Drumhead CareFor Most Skin Head Drums If your drum head is too tight, playing in too high a pitch, try putting it in a cold place and when the pitch is stable, wax with a thin layer of beeswax. More likely you will have problems with your drum head being too loose, flabby and dead sounding. First try putting the head side down on a cloth heating pad on medium heat for 15 minutes. If this fails to tighten head to proper level it's time for more drastic measures. With a cloth or your hand, wet the skin head both...

Assembling and Using Your Bagpipes   1. Remove the tartan bag cover (if fitted). Take off the chanter, GRIPPING IT BY THE BOSS (the end with the hemp whipping). Remove the blow-pipe and drones. 2. SEASONING for the full-size bagpipes. This process seals the bag before use. Plug all the stocks with corks, except the blowpipe. If you don't have corks, use rags or damp newspaper. Then remove the blowpipe and pour the seasoning in. Put the blowpipe back in, blow it up a bit and work the seasoning in, especially in the seams. When fully seasoned, drain all seasoning...