Neil O'Grady chanter

jqpublick · Post by **jqpublick** » Wed Oct 31, 2001 9:50 am

Hi there everyone;

I've been in contact with Neil O'Grady, a pipe-maker here in Canada. He's going to make/sell me a new chanter, out of cocobolo. What I'd like to know is if anyone here knows anything about him and if his chanters, pipes, etc. are worth purchasing. Has anyone had any experience with him? I know I've read his name in another thread that mentioned using one of his reeds, but other than that, I know nothing about his pipes.

He did mention a 14 month wait, so I'm assuming he's at least in some kind of demand.

As well, I'm wondering if I should ask for any keys, a subject of which I understand little. From what I understand they allow you to play in keys other than D and G, but I'm not sure what key to ask for. One of the folks I live with has suggested getting a key that allows me to play in A; could someone tell me which key that would be?

The chanter I have is maple, and as I'm living in a sort of UP wasteland (no-one here but me and the cat) I have no way of knowing if the wood will make a huge difference, but I'm guessing it will make some.

Well, that's it from me for now. Nice to talk with you all again.

Yours,
Mark

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Oct 31, 2001 3:46 pm

Mark, I'm still waiting to hear from you on the other thread. Were you successful making reed adjustments to make your chanter easier to play ?

I have an O'Grady practice set with a 3 key chanter in cocobolo.
The extra keys allow you to play the notes C natural, F natural and B flat.
I've mentioned on this forum several times that Song of the Sea sells O'Grady Practice sets for $850USD and usually has practice and half sets available at all times.
O'Grady makes traditional style wide bore D (concert pitch) pipes that are generally considered middle-of-the-road. The set I have has no flaws in workmanship. The materials used, though not overly strong, are of sufficient quality that should provide years of service if not misused. The pipes are easy to adjust and play in tune. You won't find anything that makes O'Grady stand out above the others in the way of custom features like exotic woods, nickle plated metal parts or hand stitched or padded bellows, but he fills a nitche of making 'no frills' pipes very well.

Would I buy a second O'Grady chanter ? No.
Would I wait 14 months for his pipes ? No.
Did I make a good choice in his pipes ? Yes.
Is my O'Grady set for sale ? No.
Do I have sets by other makers ? Yes.

Because of the rate of exchange, you would have to pay more for American made pipes. You might want to try another Canadian pipemaker. Joe Kennedy is the only Canadian pipemaker I can think of and he does custom work should you need/want those features.
http://www.kennedysuilleannpipes.com/

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tony on 2001-10-31 16:52 ]</font>

jqpublick · Post by **jqpublick** » Sun Nov 04, 2001 8:55 pm

Hey Tony;

Sorry for the wait, I had actually written a reply but I didn't check to see if it was up or not. Anyway, yes, adjusting the reed did make a difference, but now of course I'm busy getting used to the more delicate control needed with the bag, but it'll work out in time.

Thanks for the info on Neil O'Grady, I've looked at the other site you mentioned and his pipes look good, although I'll have to get in touch with him about getting one made. I haven't done that yet simply because I can't afford it right now. O'Grady's prices are more in my range, but if I take my time I could just save for one. For now, though, I'll just keep practicing with this one. Besides, adjusting the chanter helped quite a bit with all the difficulties I was having.

Just on a side note, I spent the weekend with some friends at a retreat-like place. We all play djembe and that was the plan for the weekend. I'd brought the pipes with me as I've been wanting to try playing what tunes I know (that's five so far if you're curious) with some rhythms.

One of the people there was my future roommate who has in the past expressed quite a few reservations about having 'bloody loud bagpipes' in his house, but by the time I'd finished playing with them he asked me if we could play together some more, which made me feel great.

Thanks again for the info, and if it came across that I hadn't tried the bridle adjustments it was just that I'd wanted to play for a while with the change for a while and see. I did and you were right.

Thanks and see you later,
Mark

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sun Nov 04, 2001 9:15 pm

Mark, Glad to see you a few steps closer to your goal. Bridal adjustments are normal and changes will continue to occur to the reed itself as it's affected by temperature and humidity.

jqpublick · Post by **jqpublick** » Mon Nov 05, 2001 11:32 am

Speaking of temperature and humidity changes, winter is fast approaching here and it gets very very very dry in Winnipeg, which does not bode well for continuing to play over the winter.

I've read about practice reeds made of plastic, winter reeds made somehow to help with the humidity problem, and I've even heard about someone using a sort of bellows-mounted humidifier.

Have you heard of something that would help? I know I'm going to need to buy a humidifier for the practice room, but 50% humididty will just melt the wallpaper after a month of two, and I don't think my roomate will be quite that generous. There must be another way. Any suggestions would be great.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Mon Nov 05, 2001 11:55 am

50% relative humidity is low for my region, I'm used to high numbers... especially in the summer where 90% RH is common but I know that's it's the combination of temperature AND humidity. Some people use a humidifyer instead of a vaporizer as the change isn't so traumatic.
I found a metal perforated sink strainer that fits over the bellows inlet so you can moisten a cloth and use this to introduce humidity into the instrument.