Chiff and Fipple Forums

Thanks Nick. I'm surprised at how most pipers of the late 19th and early 20th century ended up in very diminished circumstances at the end of their lives.

Possibly because Chanters are finicky enough without adding tuning slides.

I recently saw a photo of a chanter which seemed to have a Rogge-type slide on it. That said, it could also have been an attachment for a mic.

Well done. I've been asked to reed 3 of 4 Pakistani-made chanters over the years and never got nearly as close as you have. It's unfortunate that people with little or no understanding of the instruments still buy these instruments thinking that they can use them "out of the box". It proba...

Times must be hard for the legal profession.

What Nate says is all good. I'd just add (as you're a newbie :) ), that chanters and sets come in different pitches (Bb, Bnat, Cnat, C#, D, Eb), the most common being D (concert pitch). 90% of the time you can switch a D chanter with different D sets by just adjusting the chanter stock/air-intake. W...

Kudos BigDavy!!

To buy a new ( or second hand ) car it only takes the ability to pay off a loan and you're on the road. Try asking a bank to lend you the price of a set of Pipes. I vividly recall looking for a small loan to by my first good concertina. I had half the money but would my bank lend me 5 weeks wages? ...

PS maybe not a lot of money out there in the professional trad music world ,but a lot of them have other jobs, well paid secure jobs and can easily afford to pay top prices for top quality instruments. In the world of classical music, you sometimes see arrangements made by businesses or foundations...

It's a sad fact that there isn't much money in the traditional arts. Most of the tier 1 uilleann pipers are not full-time professional musicians, and have other jobs, unrelated to music, to support them. There are exceptions, but not many. And pipemakers have an even more precarious existence.

I bought a Rogge C# chanter recently. It has a lovely tone and feels very comfortable in the hands.

... it makes me wonder if a reed made from plastic or some kind of artificial material would be better for resisting alternating humidity conditions and extreme dryness. I saw a video on youtube with a guy playing with what he said was a plastic reed in his chanter. My inexperienced ears could not ...

You’re probably going to need a new reed every few years.

Should I be more concerned about buying the chanter ... Get a good chanter from a reputable pipe maker. Avoid eBay at all costs. Be suspicious of "great deals". ... and how concerned should I be about the reed? The reed is like the engine. The chanter is like the rest of the car. You want...

Other than acting as resonators, I've seen a few "pucks" and "tulips" which have apertures that are smaller than the air in-takes. I presume that this is to create some back pressure on the bass drone?