After reading the Doug Dexter article, I'm beginning to wonder why we don't have a George Washington's axe sticky thread...

The Padre has spoken.

Surely I'm one of the many whove already posted to say:

How I wish I'd never bought those Pakistani UP's.

A noble effort, indeed, to try to make them playable; & often a learning experience. yet it seems so unworthwhile when a real UP can be had from the outset.

I also might add, fwiw, that I wish I cound redeem the time spent in fitzzing around with them.

Can we now look forward to guidance from the MCC about "interfering with" Pakistani pipes?

Just when you thought it was safe to go to eBay ... she's back...

I'm torn between genuine pity and the irresistible urge to crack mean jokes, e.g. only Dolly Parton could play them in that position.

Oh gee, I hadn't realized how much I was missing her ! I love that lady. Such an earnest face! And, er.., this just goes to show how hard it is to re-sell those pipes made in Pakistan.

Just thot i'd post this in. I know the whole vat of Pakistani pipes being horrible etc.

I play the GHB and whislt at a games came across a vendor with a UP practice set made out of "alternative materials". So instead of the bellow being all fancy wood and leather it was (or resembles) a air matres pump. the bag is a heavy duity plastic dual (has wholes for bellows and a blow pipe) smallpipe bag. the chanter has a brass stock(?) and the chanter(in G) is made out of a cheeper plastic material (other than poly thats used in syth. GHB chanters). I gave it a whirl, it seemed fair enough. not an amazingly sweet sound but fair, the C took extra presure to get in, and the top two notes were hard to squeeze in (but i hear that happens often with chanters).
They chanter was unmarked with no maker name -but i know they're "Hepburn"...made in UK. the chanter was marked with "www.bagpipe.co.uk". the second octave comes in well. came with a plastic reed, was pre-set etc. works well.
I bought them -$260. mainly because they wern't total crap (note: i would never have bought them if i haddnt played them first, i'm not that much of a sucker).
I'm learning fine with them, but if i so choose to continue the instrument i will invest in a full half set. i wouldnt continue to use the chanter.

just wanted to point out that these arnt total crap http://www.bagpipe.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/30/products_id/105

i know ill have a bunch of people rolling there eyes at me. but wanted to point this set out.

I've seen one of these and I was not favorably impressed. I would definitely advise against starting off with a plastic chanter reed.

See pages one and two of this thread; the majority opinion seems to be that the B.G. set above is included in the category of things to avoid. 260 is nearly halfway to one of the starter sets made by people who specialize in uilleann pipes with standard bellows and fullsize bags, cane reeds, etc.

... not to mention, a legitimate and known identity.

Hello,
I bought six months ago a Pakistani practice set. It had a plastic reed. I had to find a reed maker in my area, Santiago de Compostela. Happily I found a uilleann piper in A Coruña and he sold a cane reed. We had to check several reeds and finaly one of them sound very well and tuned. The sound is not like the Froment chanter but the tuner indicates I am on tuning. I was very lucky but I don´t recommend to anyone to buy a Pakistani set.
One month later I bought a drones set, also pakis. The cane was able to make the correct D but finaly I met a galician gaita maker adjusted my new drones and all the joints avoiding the air flows through them.
Now I am happy with my Pakistani half set. It sound well, not like my loved Liam O´Flynn but the ratio quality/price is enough for me. The tune of the notes is correct at the tuner but some notes like B, E and C# are a little lower but I think it happens to every chanter, even at Froment ones. A friend of mine has a Froment chanter and we was check the tuning of our chanter and mine was very close to his one. The tone, timber of his one are sweeter than mine but the price is different too.
I do not recommend to anyone to buy Pakistani sets but if you know something about reedmaking maybe you can arrange you Pakistani chanter.
Finaly, don´t buy Pakistani sets. You can be less lucky than me.

I, too, have a 1/2 set of Pakistani made Uilleann Pipes, and after a long time and reworking, I finally got 'em to play... what a pain in the ass.

If I had simply spent the money on a good practice set (and there ARE good sets out there, some are called 'budget sets' but they are made by good pipemakers), I would've been off to the races a lot sooner than I was eventually able to be.

In the Uilleann Piping world, "you get what you paid for" is not only a catchy but tired old cliche, it's the fecking truth most of the time.

I seriously caution anyone thinking about throwing away their hard earned cash on 'em. Give me your money instead so I can go out and get really, really drunk... I promise, you'll get more for your buck if you do.

Thanks to spamming, from none other than the manufacturer of pipes built in Pakistani , I have decided to lock this thread. If you need to post something here, send me a PM with your post and I will paste it here. Thanks.

Oh, and never buy pipes from this lady...




-EMD