Chiff and Fipple Forums

I found a Daye chanter to work fairly well to start out on. The reed managed OK through the extreme humidity changes of a northeastern U.S. house in winter. The bag and bellows, however, were not very useful; I'd suggest getting those elsewhere, which is what I had to do before I could really start ...

I had an uilleann chanter many years ago, sorry I can't remember the maker, where there was no "reed seat" expansion above the throat, but rather the throat was continued as a straight bore all the way up to the top of the chanter. This ID was the same as the OD of the brass-tubing staple...

I got the web address to work with one more letter:
https://www.tionol.org

Hope to make it one of these years!
Ken

I've dealt with the seller of the Gallagher bass reg (he sold me a chanter by a different maker). He is a knowledgeable piper from what I gather, so an interested potential buyer shouldn't be shy about asking him questions.

When Nick Whitmer set up and tied in a replacement bag for my Whitmer half set, I went to Ithaca to pick it up. As he got it going for me and balanced the drones to the chanter (I'm a beginner) he found one of the drone reeds (baritone IIRC) wouldn't behave, even after he tried adjusting it. He pick...

Geoff knows far more than I, but I'll pass along one exprience. When I was learning on a Daye bag, bellows, and chanter, I went through a spell where there was a significant leak. I assumed it was my tie-ins and I redid them several times. Turns out I had a leak in the bag seam. Playing that set in ...

Like others here, I've had a mix of experiences, with pipe makers and for some other instruments I play. While I've had one take years beyond what was expected and then deliver a set of problems, another changed the design from what I expected (mostly in cosmetic aspects, admittedly). Still, that wa...

IIRC I got mine from Ossian's US distributor, but I don't recall the details.

Yeah, I came across Tim Britton, but he's well out of the range of what I can outlay to get started. Maybe one day, but I still have to go back to the wife with a number I can defend :) I hadn't seen David Boisvert before, but it looks like his buisiness model might be a bit quirky for my needs. Th...

There are (at least) two makers in your area. While they don't do inexpensive practice sets to my knowledge, they perhaps can point you to additional local expertise, etc.: Tim Britton in Iowa David Boisvert (Greenwood pipes) in Minnesota Welcome to the madness. I have a Whitmer half set and am enjo...

These do look a lot like George Balderose's Taylor set, which I got to hear last fall when we did the Pittsburgh version of play the u. pipes day (the official NPU name of that event slips my mind). They do sound different from the few other sets I've heard (I'm a beginner), but I don't have the lit...

Tinkering is the huge challenge, especially the chanter reed, and it is still a mystery to me. I always 100% recommend to any piper that has the time, interest, and money, to get into reed making. Good suggestion. I've been watching for a chance to try it in a class, but heck, maybe I should just g...

About two years of halting, solitary progress now. Episodes of face-to-face instruction have helped the most. Tinkering is the huge challenge, especially the chanter reed, and it is still a mystery to me. I don't know how long it will take me before I can confidently adjust it to work (or know to le...

This is all very interesting. Since visiting Scotland this year and hearing about the history there, I have a question. They told me the pipes were suppressed after the defeat of 1746(?) and for a time (several decades?) only the British military were allowed to use GHB openly. Whether this was comp...

...whereas I think Joe Kennedy's might be derived from the Taylor set owned by George Balderose in Philadelphia. George is actually over my way in Pittsburgh and, along with another local player, has been teaching me for a bit over a year, intermittently. He mentions that set but brings something r...