Tony,

I haven't seen or tried the prototype yet, so I don't know what Joe has in mind when it comes to keys (or if indeed he has fitted any yet). He has only been working on this narrower design since he returned home from his visit to these shores of just a couple of weeks ago.

The bore dimensions and hole spacings are Coyne inspired I'm sure, don't know about the jewelry though!

Cheers, Harry.

Kevin,
I think I got the term turret from Davy or from his website. It's the style that curves around the chanter pressed with your 3rd finger (right hand) instead of the Rowesome key style pressed with the 4th finger (left hand) picture from Bagpipeworks:

Sorry for the slow response. I am not sure who Joe's D chanter is modelled after, but the one he will be giving me soon will be fully keyed (5 keys including the stop-key). I would contact him directly for the specifics.

Cheers,

Virgil

That Fnat key style is known as the F ring key as far as I've heard anyway?!?!?

No Patrick...
It's called the F'ing key. When all your other chanters are Rowesome style and you find yourself trying to play Fnat with your left hand, you say... "Where's that F'ing key?"

...

Good one Tony... I usually say that with the Rowsome style F'ing key... I like the bottom hand one myself.

Patrick.

Patrick, on the Wooff D chanter (because of the finger spread) the Fnat key is difficult for me to hit. I'm told it's perfectly designed for a B chanter.
Also from a pipemaking standpoint (again, I'm told) it's a bitch to drill the hole for the pin, especially if the chanter is finished and the bottom mount is already on.

Hi Tony,

Here are a couple of pictures of my Wooff B chanter so you can see how Geoff does it on my chanter. Very subtle but tricky placement, the pin if I remember correctly is curved to reduce the block size. It's in an ideal position for me I don't think the D should be any different? This key in particular seems to be a bit of a hurdle for many pipemakers to get right. Geoff nails it!

I have posted bigger close up shots of the chanter on my site at:
http://www.concentric.net/~pdarcy/page5/page5j.shtml

NB: the photos below are of the same chanter taken from different angles. Even though it might look like it I'm sad to say that I don't own two Wooff chanters

All the best,

Patrick.

Patrick, I'm a creature of habit. If you come into my office and move my calculator on the other side of the phone, I might not get any work done

90% of this is what you get used to. I started with the Rowesome style... Here's a picture:

As you can see the key is right under my pinky.

The Wooff D looks the same as your B only the tone holes are closer together:


I was fumbling with the camera and couldn't get the angle I wanted but I considered sending the chanter back to Geoff for an overhaul (it is 16 years old) and to ask him to make the key about 6-7mm longer and curl it downward closer to the chanter, this way I don't have to lift my up and over to reach it.





Patrick, does that make sense to you?

Having a narrow bore d chanter is like wanting the cake and eating it too . Not that there is anything wrong with that , just that to realize that some narrow bore d chanters will give a certain tone , and playability , and others will give another set of variables . I think it is nice to have a quiet d chanter for quiet times , kinda like the low wistle . Or the harp .
I have a narrow bore d that is from the recient sale on ebay . The thing wants to play ,, troble is that it was made over 100 years ago and for a different " ear " . Of course , the narrow bore concert chanters were made by the master pipemakers alongside the " flat " pipes . If we ignore the pitch of the instrument and focus on the tone and playability of the chanter that will bring more clarity to the approach to the pipes , and what we personally want in playing them .
Well , thats what I think ,, I think .
Tok .

Actually, to answer all of the above, I do in fact have a narrow bore chanter, an Angus. I'm just really, really picky about tuning. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice chanter and I LOVE the tone, and for trying to please the customer Brad gets an A+, but I'll bet there's one that's in better natural tune out there than mine. Why a D, you ask? Because I have very small hands....I can BARELY play a B chanter, and my hands ached horribly afterwards, although the sound was intoxicating (memo to myself: Saccama chanter...start developing one). Additionally, a narrow-bore D sounds wonderful against a violin on a slow air. It's just a matter of personal preference I suppose. I will probably never be good enough to lead a session so having a pile of concert pitch chanters is not an issue, although I like the voicing on my Quinn a LOT.

Dave are you playing the Angus chanter with drones?
What style Fnat key does it have?

Dave Parkhurst...did you use to live in Vancover B.C, and play flute and fiddle? There was someone with a name like that I knew years ago, from Weiser, ID...from "little Ireland" campsite...B. Zavon and gang.

Hi Tony,
I think the term "Turret" refers to the type of spring used. It doesn't show well on the picture Davy's currently using but on an earlier pic it did. It looks like a coil spring positioned vertically below the key, set into the chanter and fitted with a brass cap, instead of a flat traditional type spring. Of course I could be wrong

Cheers, Mac

I just checked Davy's site, it does seem to refer to the spring
http://www.bagpipeworks.com/photos_5.htm