Killer bagpipes

Subject: Tech: Killer bagpipes
From: Thompson
Date: 28 Aug 16 - 09:58 AM

Doctors warn of mould in bagpipes after a piper died from a reaction to mould in the bags and pipes.

Subject: RE: Killer bagpipes
From: maeve
Date: 28 Aug 16 - 10:31 AM

Yes- not restricted to bagpipes, either.

Subject: RE: Killer bagpipes
From: keberoxu
Date: 28 Aug 16 - 02:06 PM

I've heard of war pipes, but - !

Subject: RE: Killer bagpipes
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Aug 16 - 03:01 PM

Apparently this is particularly liable to happen with backpipes made with modern synthetic materials.

A lot to be said for using elbow pipes. They don't just sound better, they don't kill you.

Subject: RE: Killer bagpipes
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 28 Aug 16 - 04:22 PM

I've heard of war pipes, but - !

Biological war pipes?

Subject: RE: Killer bagpipes
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 28 Aug 16 - 07:19 PM

And bodhran players/makers who died of anthrax: no, not funny before you get started on the bodhran jokes! (Again......!! Yawn.......!!)

Subject: RE: Killer bagpipes
From: Teribus
Date: 29 Aug 16 - 03:03 AM

Mould in bags and pipes

Perhaps somebody should remind them to blow and not suck?

Subject: RE: Killer bagpipes
From: BobL
Date: 29 Aug 16 - 03:32 AM

Well if you must smoke that sort of pipe, don't inhale.

Subject: RE: Killer bagpipes
From: Jack Campin
Date: 29 Aug 16 - 04:14 AM

My wife (dietitian specializing in food and environmental allergies) once had a saxophonist patient with chronic lung disease, fortunately not far enough advanced to have caused irreversible damage.

- How often do you clean your mouthpiece?
- Clean it?

Once she'd removed ten years of accumulated fungus the lung problem went away and her tone improved as well.

Subject: RE: Killer bagpipes
From: Thompson
Date: 29 Aug 16 - 04:14 AM

Mould is a real killer, and not something to joke about. It's particularly deadly to anyone with a tendency to upper respiratory tract illness, and to children and the old.

If anyone has a serious point about how to prevent mould in bagpipes and other pipe instruments, it would be welcome.

Subject: RE: Killer bagpipes
From: The Sandman
Date: 29 Aug 16 - 06:12 AM

Subject: RE: Cleaning a Harmonica
From: Steve Shaw - PM
Date: 10 Jun 10 - 08:13 PM

Toothbrush red alert! Brush only from the fixed end of the reeds to the free end. One stroke in the other direction and it's bye-bye harmonica. When you get home from playing your harmonicas, clean them and let them dry in the air overnight before putting them away. Plastic-combed, unvalved harps (Special 20s and the like) can be washed out in a stream of tepid water then shaken out. You can do this with the modern 10-hole harps with wood combs such as blues harps that have MS stamped on the covers, but be quick. Older, hand-made blues harps and Marine Bands should not be immersed in water at all. If you have an Echo harp and you want to destroy it in one fell swoop just wash it under the tap. Bye-bye Echo. Likewise with Hohner 270s and the other wood-combed chromatics. You really are best off not cleaning these as long as they are working well, but you can clean the mouthpiece and slide mechanism by holding the harp mouthpiece-down in a shallow container of hot water whilst working the slide. Don't turn the harp the right way up until you've shaken out the excess water, and then allow it to air-dry, mouthpiece down. If you have a valved harp with sticking valves you can nearly always alleviate the problem by warming the harp before playing it. Put it in a little bag for half an hour with one of those little gel hand-warmers or put it down the front of your trousers. The counsel of perfection is not to play harmonicas unless your mouth is very clean, without trace of food residues. I break this rule only with harmonicas that can be washed through, as above. I'm not going to play my chroms after eating chips, thanks. Even if you don't do any other cleaning, always clean the mouthpiece of every harp after every playing session. If you do these things you will rarely have to contemplate dismantling harmonicas for cleaning, and you won't keep getting cold sores or worse

Subject: RE: Killer bagpipes
From: leeneia
Date: 29 Aug 16 - 02:47 PM

Here's an article about cleaning of bagpipes. New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/health/scottish-bagpipers-urge-cleaning-to-prevent-infection.html?_r=0

If you Google "how to clean bagpipes," info will come up, but most seems to deal with the wooden parts of the pipes.