Drone vent hole size

[Francis Wood]

What thoughts about the size of the drone vent holes?
The same size as the bores, or slightly larger (which I like) ?

Francis

[Barry Say]

I have found that vent holes which are obscured by foreign matter can prevent a drone from working. I therefore conclude that they should be at least as large as the bore. I can see no problem with making them slightly larger.

Barry

[pipemakermike]

I did some experimenting while I was working on the design of the schoolpipes and it was clear that the best tone came from a bore that vented directly to air without turning a corner. The next best thing is to vent the bore into a larger cross sectional area and that is the method for the schoolpipes. On my traditional sets I have a hole the same size as the bore in the side but I blend it into the bore as a hard edge seems to give the note a breathy tone (sometimes)
Dave Shaw style drones with just a removable plug in the ends seem to give the best tone and it was really with that in mind that I had the schoolpipes vent straight out.

[Francis Wood]

The direct-venting drones (which I prefer to call John Dunn style) do indeed give a very different tone and it's one I like more. The Reid style with 'plungers', whilst being very much more convenient, does seem to be liable to cause that breathiness. I don't think this has much to do with turning corners since it doesn't seem to bother musette drones. It may have much more to do with the chamber behind the stopper and possibly, reflective interference from the stopper itself.

Does this affect natural cane reeds more than composite ones, perhaps?

Francis