Doing a Great Hemp Joint!
by Ian Lyons
Having a well maintained set of bagpipes is one of the keys to creating a steady and consistently good sounding instrument.
The quality of the hemp job on your drones and slides is paramount to making your pipes comfortable to tune.
Many pipers dislike doing this job or just choose not to! From experience, this can be the reason that you are struggling to play your pipes steadily. I've always said that if the air escaping from your pipes was a colour, you'd be surprised at where it can escape. A lot of pipers would be playing in a cloud! So, looking after your pipes can be the difference between enjoying the experience or suffering through and becoming disheartened with the pipes.
Doing one good hemp joint should only take about 10-15 minutes. So, rehemping a full set of pipes will take a full morning or a full afternoon. Or you could choose to do just one drone at a time or even one joint at a time. A well done hemp joint should last for years if you take the time and patience to do it well once!!!
Pre-waxed Hemp and Unwaxed Hemp
The rolls of thread that are used on the bagpipes is referred to, by pipers, as hemp.We have two options of hemp to use on our pipes. Either pre-waxed or unwaxed hemp.
Prior to the use of pre-waxed hemp, pipers used yellow unwaxed hemp. They also purchased either cobblers black wax or yellow beeswax to manually apply wax to the yellow hemp. The method was to pull out an arms length of hemp and run the piece of wax along it a few times to coat it with wax. Some pipers still use this method.
Today we have pre-waxed hemp which is fully coated in wax to allow for immediate applcation.
Starting the Joint
Start by removing the bagpipe part from the pipes and always remove the reed if it's a bottom drone section or chanter that you are hemping.
Remove all the old hemp completely and just wipe the hemp section with a dry cloth.
You'll notice the hemp sections on the pipes are combed into the wood to give you a perfect guide to apply the hemp accurately.The more accurately you apply the hemp on this first layer, the more likely the subsequent layers will be accurate and the joint will be parallel.
Hold the bagpipe part in one hand. Pull out a length of hemp from the roll and just let the roll of hemp fall onto your work surface or the floor so it unwinds freely. Place a very short piece of the hemp long ways down the hemp section and hold it securely with the thumb of the hand you are holding the bagpipe part with.. With the other hand, start wind the hemp tightly around the section from the top to the bottom. Once the hemp has gone around a couple of times and is secured, then you can hold the hemp tightly and slowly spin the bagpipe piece around in your hand to get a very accurate application. Keep the tightness in the hemp and take it slowly until it reaches the bottom of the hemp section.
It's important to make sure that the first layer of hemp is tight, otherwise later on the whole hemp joint will spin around and you will have to do it all over again.
This is the most important layer. So, make sure it's done very well!
The Next Layers
Some sets of bagpipes will take up to 3 or 4 layers of hemp where others will only take 2. This depends on the brand and era of bagpipes that you play.
Because hemp spreads as it compresses, you have to be very careful about how you apply the second and subsequent layers of hemp.
Now that you have applied the first layer and your hemp is at the bottom of the hemp section, it's time to start applying the second layer. Start this layer about 3mm - 4mm up from the bottom and apply the hemp in the same winding fashion as before until you get back up to the top. Take this very slowly and carefully to ensure you maintain accurate and complete coverage.
Stop when you get about 3mm - 4mm from the top.
The reason for starting and stopping short of the top and bottom will become apparent in the next step.
With a small block of wood, or something similar, roll the hemp flat on a hard surface like the edge of a table. This will compress the two layers of hemp together and you'll notice that the second layer will have spread both downwards and upwards a little bit to negate the 3mm - 4mm space that you left at the top and bottom and will give you a flat surface to then commence the third layer, if needed.
At this stage, try to fit the piece into the pipes to determine whether a third layer is necessary. From this point onwards, it will be trial and error to get to the point where the joint is well fitted.
If you determine that a third layer is neccessary, then commence in the same manner as you did with the second layer. Start 3mm - 4mm down from the top and stop when you get 3mm - 4mm from the bottom. Once completed, then roll flat again using the block of wood.
Try to fit the piece into the pipes again. If you need a forth layer, then repeat. It's unusual to need a full forth layer.
Finishing Off the Joint
Once you have applied the required number of full layers and you have detemined that another full layer would be too thick, then you'll have to finish off the joint to get it to the exact thickness.
Take the roll of hemp in your hand and use it to take up the tension of the hemp close to the joint. At this point you need to apply hemp around the joint in a wide apart layer about 3mm - 4mm apart. Use the tension to ensure that the hemp is cutting into the joint so it's embedding in.
Continually check the joint in the pipes until you get it to fit perfectly.
Final Adjustments
For very fine adjustments, you can splice the hemp. Usually the waxed and unwaxed hemp are made up of 3 strands which can be separated. Cut a 200mm length of hemp off the roll. Fray the edge and separate the strands. This will give you a very thin piece which can be used to get your joint perfect.
How Tight
The main goal is to ensure that the hemp joints going into the stocks, with the drone reeds, are tighter than the tuning pin joints.
The tuning pin hemp joints should be able to be turned comfortably using your thumb and two fingers. So, these hemp joints have to be done very accurately to achieve this result. You want to avoid pulling and jerking at your pipes while you are trying to play steadily and tune accurately.
Ensure that the stock joints are tight so there's no movement when you are tuning your drones.
The chanter and blowpipe joints should be tight enough so they are comfortable to remove easily without fear of damaging the chanter reed or blowpipe valve.
A well hemped set of bagpipes will save you sooooooo much breath!
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