What to do with old pipes

[OC Richard]

You never know about old bags... if your 'hide' bag is "elkhide" (such as have long been made by L&M) it might be perfectly airtight, with seasoning or even without. I picked up an old used L&M bag from the 1980s (L&M bags have the date stamped on them) and it works great, not leaking in the slightest, with no seasoning.

If it's the sort of 'hide' bag made by the Scottish makers back then it's probably unusable, but you might as well try seasoning it and see.

For a quick test you don't have to go through the complete traditional tie-in, but just hold the stocks in place with auto hose clamps. Be sure to put a strip of scrap leather between the bag leather and the clamp so the bag leather doesn't get damaged. On my old L&M bag I have the stocks tied in in the traditional way AND auto hose clamps so I don't do a Richard Parkes thing at a gig.

About getting a replacement bag, I'm a big believer in traditional sheepskin, for all the standard reasons: more ergonomic, better tone, ideal moisture level, easier strikeins, easier cutoffs... it's all true.

I'm a very wet blower and when I tried a Bannatyne bag it held in more moisture than any bag I've ever experienced in 40 years of piping. (L&M bags hold in a lot of moisture too, I should warn you.) I would have to use some sort of MCS to use the Bannatyne, probably, though a Moose valve might be sufficient (see below).

My favourite neo-bag in the Gannaway. It performs very much like sheepskin, with excellent natural moisture control, ergonomics, strikeins, and cutoffs.

I really like the Moose valve. It goes into your blowpipe stock. It works perfectly, is non-restrictive, and has a built-in watertrap. For me, a very wet blower, the Moose watertrap traps a surprising amount of water (I have to dump it after ever couple sets at practice) and makes a tube trap unnecessary. And it doesn't matter what blowpipe you stick in there!

"Drone valves" seem to be a response to how oddly drones behave in GoreTex bags, being more difficult to strike in and cut off. I myself did OK with a Ross bag (GoreTex) and no valves though I had to keep my blowing in mind regarding cutting off with the band... I had to stop blowing a long time before the last note and make sure there was the absolute minimum of air in the bag. With the Gannaway or sheepskin it's no trouble, just lift your arm off the bag and the pipes stop clean even if there's some air in there.

With reeds, nowadays there's loads of great synthetic reeds around. I'd try EzeeDrone, Kinnairds, and Cannings first... any or all of them might work great.

There's a very good Open solo piper here who plays an old G&C pipe of about the same era as yours. His sound spectacular.

About PC reeds, try a Walsh and see what you think. It's my go-to reed nowadays.