Uilleann Bass Drone "Penny" Construction

Bass Drone All-Thin-Wall Tubing in a Shuttle Style Construction

Copyright 1999 David C. Daye, all text, image and sound files presented here.

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New Page 5 June 1999

  1. Common Bass Drone Construction
  2. Shuttle Style Construction Using Tubes
  3. Detail of Shuttle Joint
  4. Calculating Bore Length of Shuttle Joints
  5. Shuttle Joints Between Different Sized Tubes
  6. Photo of Shuttle Tube Bass Drone Inner Half
  7. Enlarged Photo of Crude Shuttle Joint

A Very Stable Bass Drone Inner Half

Can Be Built of Thin-Wall Brass Tube or Conventional Construction

Part
Name		 I.D. Length
Reed
Tube		 3/16" 110
Reed
Blade		 1/4"
x .020"		 20 mm
St 5/16"
to
3/16"		 10 mm
I 3/16"
Rushed
1/16"
wire		 240 mm
L1 5/16" 131 mm
C 3/8" 90 mm
L2 5/16 131 mm
E 11/32 303 mm

Note first bore section seems to perform better in many configurations when a 1/16" brass wire rush is inserted full length. This equates to an approximately .01" I.D. reduction if drilling trad-style in plastic or wood.

I have tested this inner half successfully with different tail piece configurations from above E-Flat to below C Natural finding very good stability with the recommended artificial reed.

Note: This inner segment does not work so well when any tailpiece I have tried includes a common type of tuning slide. I have had best results with tailpieces that form a press-fit using the next larger size to slide.

Tests continue. 04 June 1999

Concert D-to-C# Tailpiece

Gives nice, very stable concert D
tone medium loud.

Part
Name		 I.D. Length
Tuning
Slide		 3/8" 40 mm to
100 mm
First
Bore		 11/32"
Rushed
0.080"		 80 mm
Loop &
Exit		 3/8"
Rushed
0.080"		 240 mm

Concert C Tailpiece

Gives nice, very stable concert C
tone medium loud.

Part
Name		 I.D. Length
First
Bore		 3/8" 285 mm
Loop &
Exit		 7/16" 390 mm

Outermost end of Loop Exit Tube from the inner half assembly can be slightly flared using a needle-nose pliers pushed into the tube end and rotated. This will create a snug tunable press-fit into the tuning slide without hemp or other wrapping.

For concert D tuning, slide is pushed mostly in. Additional length allows the D tailpiece to tune down to C# or possibly C. Rushes seem to help its performance, so a traditional equivalent would require hand-rolled tubing for exact dimension.


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