It is essential that the Drone Stock is not in any danger of falling out of the Drone Stock Cup. The ‘Drone Stock Cup’ is the large silver ferrule at the bag end of the Drone Stock. To rotate the assembly in the cup, you must always grip the cup with one hand whilst turning with the other. If removing the assembly you must grip with one hand whilst turning and pulling with the other.
The drone stock must be secure in the drone stock cup but not so tight that you are unable to remove it if necessary. Nor should it be so loose that it is in danger of working loose while you are playing.
To ensure that the whole drone stock assembly does not shoot out of the drone stock cup:
1) Before playing always make sure that there is no gap appearing between the edge of the drone stock cup (large ferrule) and the main drone stock.
2) Frequently check during playing that the above is not happening.
3) If you see a gap appearing: this means the Drone mainstock is not secure in the cup and you must remove it in order to wrap more thread around the base of the main Drone stock before returning it to the cup – make sure it is not so tight that you cannot remove it.
THIS MUST BE PART OF YOUR REGULAR MAINTENANCE CHECKS
NB. In 2014, I designed a Stock lock which prevents any danger of the stock coming loose and allows easy orientation of the whole stock for positioning of the regs for ease of playing. This can be seen in the pictures on my ‘Uilleann Pipes‘ Page.