A 2008 Copy of a Patsy Brown Chanter by Brad Angus For Sale

Uilleann Pipes
1

My Fellow Pipers !
This is a narrow bore “D” Chanter with 4 Keys, made with Ebony, Ivory, and Nickel Silver.
It was made by my friend, Brad Angus of Vancouver, Washington, in 2008.
It is a copy of an original, functioning, D Chanter, made by Patsy Brown of Boston, Mass.
Mr. Patrick Brown was an active Irish Pipe maker, circa 1920 to 1950.
This Brad Angus Chanter has it’s 4 keys positioned on the back of the Chanter,
very much in the style of the Taylor Brothers of Philadelphia, Pa.
The Taylor Brothers (George and Billy) probably invented the “Modern” style
of making Irish Pipes with “Ribbon Keys” which was very much “in Vogue” here in the U.S.A.
Dating from the later part of the 1800s,
and continuing into the first half of the 1900s, this style was adopted by
such other American-Irish Pipe makers as J.E. Brennan, Anderson, Patrick Henley, et al.

The 4 keys are: F natural, G sharp, B flat, and C natural, which gives this Chanter
a complete Chromatic Scale.
It also has a very nice “Popping Valve” at the Distal end of the Chanter
and the Chanter Top has a “Stop Key”
so you can listen closely to tune your Drones,
without having the Chanter sounding over them.
Brad Angus rolls his own ferrules, and fabricates his own Key work,
and I think the job he did on this Chanter is exceptional in this regard.
This Chanter comes with two working Reeds, and it has that “Old Time” tone
that stands out and away from all the rest of the D Chanters being made today.
I have 2 videos uploaded on my You Tube Channel “seanthepiper” The main video is 7 minutes 10 seconds,
and the second video shows the sound of the 2nd Chanter Reed for this D Chanter.
Here is the Link for the main video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGDTKYIM154

The many Still Photos of this Chanter are on my FLICKR page… Sean Folsom or seanthepiper.
Two of the Photo Links Are:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanthepiper/5928931355/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanthepiper/5929542786/in/photostream

Brad has told me that he would have to charge over $2,000 USD for this kind of Chanter today,
so I am willing to entertain any reasonable offer, at this time.
Please address any questions you may have for me to: seanthepiper@yahoo.com
as any further financial communications with me on this post, are not in keeping with the C&F guidelines.
Thank You for Your Interest,
Sean Folsom

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Hi Sean,
I would have to say that if anyone here has not tried Brad’s work they are really missing out. His attention to detail, tone and tradition are top notch, as well as his playing. I feel he will be more and more sought out over the next few years not just as a maker but as a reference. He makes several styles of pipes and blows me away every time I see the work that he has done.
Good luck with the sale!

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Sean, I was blown away by the picture of your full set on flikr. Am I right in seeing resonators on EACH of the 3 drones? Is your set modelled after an existing one or is this a special order?
Very nice looking narrow bore chanter by the way. It will make someone a happy piper! Is it blackwood or ebony?
Regards

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Thank You Mr.“KMAG” I agree with your estimation of Mr. Angus and his work, whole-heartedly !
I have had quite a response to this posting so I think the Chanter will be gone soon.
To Mr.“AMCKAY”
About that 3 Drones with 3 Resonators Set of Pipes on Flickr…you can get a better picture of it
on Oliver Seeler’s Universe of Bagpipes site (his site, my Bagpipe collection).
It’s an antique set of Pipes that I bought from Mickey Zekley (he of “Lark-in-the-Morning”)
back in 1976. For many years I believed it to be by the Taylor Brothers, but lately I have been
dis-abused of this idea by Mr. Jim McGuire who is one of only two Experts on Historic American-Irish Pipes,
(the other Man being Mr. Barry O’Neill), that I trust to know what they are talking about.
Jim is sure that it was made by Patrick Henley of Chicago. It’s an amazing set of Pipes and I like playing it.
The Tenor Drone and the Baritone Drone extend out of the Mainstock on a Brass tube and the Tenor has
a Piggy-Back feed off on this main Tube, which has the effect that the Pressure Waves off the 2 Reeds can interfere
with each other, if they are not in tune. Much the same effects as the Piggy Back arrangements on French Cabrettes,
German Dudelsack Drones etc.
These sound waves going back into the Bag itself or communicating with another chamber can be a problem.
Sometimes it can be “Cured” by changing the size of the passage either in the Stock itself, or elsewhere.
As for the Resonators on the Sliders themselves, they are not hollow, but turn the bore up for a very short distance,
for ease of stopping the Drone(s) with a touch of the Piper’s finger.
Thanks for the replies to my Post !
Sean Folsom

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The fact that there is much interest is not surprising especially considering the increased interest in small bore chanters over the last few years. I know that whoever gets the chanter will be quite pleased.

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My Fellow Pipers !
THE CHANTER SOLD TO A PIPER IN VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA,
you know…up there
in “O” CANADA !
Thanks to Everyone for viewing these posts which I will leave up for a week longer…if I may,
for any continuing discussion that C&F members might want to engage in, considering
info about narrow bore D Chanters, Patsy Brown’s Pipes, Brad Angus’ Pipes, and so on.
Keep Piping !
Sean Folsom

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… where it’s so cold, we put little tiny fur coats on our reeds in winter …

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Like Sean says in the video, this is a copy of a chanter I own. It doesn’t actually say Patsy Brown on it but Dave Quinn told me it’s likely his work, also that’s what John Campbell said, he sold me the chanter with a set I used to play - I always doubted the set was Brown’s work, his pipes seemed to me to be a bit better made. Incidentally the antique set Sean sold was just like mine, except with ebony mountings instead of ivory. It looked like a photo negative. I sold the set to a pal down in Houston but kept the chanter - it’s a nice stick.

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Hi P.J.
I love the comment You made about putting little coats on the Reeds in order to help them stay warm
in “O ! Canada !”.
Thank You Kevin for Your writing on this subject as well !
Some photos of the Patsy Brown set I sold last year (without the Angus Chanter) are /were on
Pat D’Arcy’s Obsession site… plus it’s resting on the left side of the couch in that
famous “Plethora of Pipes” Photo, taken at the Los Angeles Pipers Tionol that happened last Fall 2010.
You can see the Ends of the 3 Regs are Ebony, there’s the Ribbon Keys on the Regs, etc.
This set is now in London, and the owner just told me that
he has obtained an original Patsy Brown Chanter to complete this set.
Perhaps He can please provide us with a Photo ?
Other than that…
I took down the spare Reed Video & I’ll delete the other “Main Video” soon, so take a look
before it’s gone. I’ll leave the FLICKR photos up but reduce their number.
More…Later ?
Sean Folsom

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Original, does it have “P Brown” on it somewhere? I saved a picture of one with the stamp on the stop key, of all things. Another that was owned by the padre who was James Morrison’s nephew - Father Quigley? - had the wood stamped like usual. That one was pictured in An Piobarie 16 years ago. He was the parish priest up here in Oregon, in the Dalles, then Baker (City).

Apparently some sets of pipes are stamped “PB”. Here’s some chanters, owned by Steve Dogherty, whoever that is: UilleannObsession.com - Diary - 2007. The whole anonymity thing was an unfortunate move on the Taylors’ part, it’s led to a lot of confusion.

My chanter’s outlet tube on the top cap is pretty small - some Taylors or copies look like they have really big tubing there. That might be a trademark of Patsy. That, and the really crappy lines turned in the ferrules. Patsy was said to have built his own lathe.

The mount on the top of the chanter top was made by Brad, btw. Everything else is original, minus the pads, and my reed. Nice stick.

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Hello Kevin,
Thank You for the Photo of Your Chanter !
Yes… Father Quigley ! He posted me the two Patsy Brown Chanters that he had, to see if I could adjust the Reeds
to play better in the Oregon Desert (i.e. Baker). This was 1974, and he told me that one of the Chanters was for his
practice set that was originally in the hands of the Piper in the cover Photo of “The Wheels of the World” LP.
It’s the Man with the practice set on the Right in the front row. This was ONE of Father Quigley’s Chanters and then
there was the Patsy Brown Chanter with the Metal Flute Keys all up and down the front of the Chanter.
Sort of in imitation of Theobald Boehm. You didn’t have to seal the holes with your Fingers, just flap a key down.
NOW, If You find any Chanters with that kind of work on them You ARE looking at a P. Brown Chanter.
There’s one of these all keyed Chanters in the Photos of the Boston Club 2007 on Pat D’Arcy’s site.
The one Photo of Patrick Brown in Pat Sky’s Book shows him playing one of his special All Keyed Chanters.
Gene Frain of Watertown Mass. told me ( he was a friend of Patrick’s) that he gave Mr. Sky that photo.
I never asked Gene if there were any other Photos of Patsy Brown, worse Luck !
Frain had a Patsy Brown set that belonged to his Father (Frain Sr. was a Flute Player) and a Taylor set.
Way Back in 1997, I did try to buy an un-keyed Double Chanter ( with no top) by Patsy Brown from Gene,
but he didn’t want to sell it.
This Patsy Brown info is taking over this thread !!! Does anyone object ?
More and More Later ?
Sean Folsom

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Really! The man with the practice set was one of the NYC Crowley brothers - the other is in the front row, too. Funny thing but these two were Corkmen who made pipes; there was no known relation to Denis and Tadgh, though. Now, I always thought my antique set looked a bit like the one the other Crowley brother is pictured with here; he’s second from the left. The original LP had liner notes by Barry O’Neill, who could only ID king of fiddlers Michael Coleman, on the left in the 2nd row; Barry was mistaken in thinking that the piper in the middle was Tom Ennis, turns out it was actually Leitrim piper Michael Gallagher; his brother Peter is the southpaw. Harry Bradshaw tracked down every muso here, somehow. The names are in the liner notes of the Coleman 2 CD, also the reissue of the Wheels record, Vol 1.

My set or the photo negative have simple regulator keys, one big sheet of metal folded over the reg. The regs were simple filed blocks, too. Not too elegant. Another example is in an example of a Pennsylvania piper, John Coyne I think the name was. Tom Busby sent a photo of him to NPU years back, it’s in the Ceol Rince Vol 1 book. Real P Brown sets have the 3 piece type of regulator key, and a bit of sculpting in the wood, I’m told. Perhaps he built both type of pipes, at different stages in his career.

Michael Coleman composed a pair of Crowley’s reels, in honor of these two pipemakers. I like to play those tunes and make with the anecdote.

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Standeven had an all ivory chanter with the Boehm keys. That one I’d think was a Taylor/Brown. Wally Charm wrote about it a while back.

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“sean an piobaire”]Hello Kevin,
Frain had a Patsy Brown set that belonged to his Father (Frain Sr. was a Flute Player) and a Taylor set.
Way Back in 1997, I did try to buy an un-keyed Double Chanter ( with no top) by Patsy Brown from Gene,
but he didn’t want to sell it.
This Patsy Brown info is taking over this thread !!! Does anyone object ?
More and More Later ?
Sean Folsom

Gene’s Patsy Brown set never belonged to Gene’s father; Owen Frain.

I was 8 years old at the time when I saw a classified ad in the Patriot Ledger, (a newspaper in the Boston area) for a set of” Irish pipes” and told my father about them. My father who was a friend of Gene’s, responded to the ad and we went to see the set. The man that was selling the set was a retired Boston Police Lt or Capt, and was in his 70’s. He stated that the pipes were his fathers, and he had them made by his close friend Patsy Brown. The set had a fully keyed chanter with a popping strap, and a stop key. It also had 4 regulators. The set (from what I observed at 7 years old) was in great condition. The man said that he just wanted them to go to someone that would play them because he never learned to play, and they have been sitting in its case for years.

After a while of talking about pipes and such, my father offered 1k dollars for them (this was 1985), and the man agreed. My father told the man that he would be back to give him the money but he also wanted Gene to meet this man to talk about Patsy and the history of uilleann pipes in the Boston area.

That night my father spoke to Gene and told him about the set and the man. My father was going to pick up Gene (who didn’t drive because of his medical conditions) the next morning and the two were going to see the set.

The next morning my father called Gene but got no response. It wasn’t until later that day did my father get in contact with him. Gene told my father that he took a cab to the man’s house and bought the set himself giving the man 1k dollars in cash.
My father spent the rest of Gene’s remaining years trying to get the set but with no luck.

When Gene passed my father contacted one of Gene’s sisters to offer his condolences and ask as to the future of Gene’s Irish instrument, and Music collection. She stated that everything was going to be handled by a broker and was the last I ever heard of it.

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The Frain Taylor found a good home and is being played well.

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Thanks Kevin for Your Great Info, that’s the Man in the lower most Right Hand corner with the Practice set.
Fr. Quigley said that this man Crowley had the Practice set before it was given to Him, with the two Chanters.
Thanks to “IRISH PIPER” for the stories about Gene Frain’s Bagpipe dealings. Greed over Old Sets of Pipes used to be the way of it, for many people. The Influx of all the New Sets of Irish Pipes means that only a few People care about these
Time-Travel Objects, as I like to call them.
So I only saw Gene once a year, when I was in Boston for Computer Science Corporation meetings, 1992-1998.
Sometimes I had a Rental Car, other times I took a Cab, and one time Paddy Keenan and I when to
Gene’s upstairs apartment in Watertown in Paddy’s BMW sedan. These “Snapshot” once a year afternoons kind of blend together, in my mind, except for the Afternoon with Paddy Keenan which got Gene all excited, and he recorded Paddy on his Reel-to-Reel 2 track Tape Machine. That was 1997…oh man, those "Go-Go’ nineteen nineties !!!
I do remember that Gene was the Piano Player on a number of Copley Records, and that he said his Father Owen was a Flute Player from Co. Mayo…
This is some of what I remember about Gene, as I had contacted him by phone in 1973 for my Uilleann Pipers
mailing list that I put out in 1974, from information given to me by the Famous West Coast Piper, My Mentor and Friend,
Dennis Brooks, who was then living in Oakland, Calif.
So where did the Taylor set come from as Gene told me a story that he had the Brown set first and then the Taylor set came to him afterwards ? Not that all this matters that much, but if You’re “In-the-Know” IRISHPIPER, Please continue…
The next question is for “MR.GUMBY”: Is that really Matt Damon in Your Photo ? If not, what is His Name as it should be Captioned on it, don’t You think ?
This is some thread ! SF

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I opened the picture in another tab, and the filename includes “Emmett Gill.” He’s a Londoner who lives in Galway now, good piper, made a CD under the NPU aegis. Has 2 Quinn sets as well, D and C. Nice as always that the pipes wound up with someone who’ll play them. Emmett’s a fan of the old time Irish music; he and another fellow have issued three CDs of “Old Time Irish Music,” old discs, including a few sides of Dan Sullivan’s Shamrock Band, which had Dan Moroney and Owen Frain playing the odd bagpipe.

I quite like the Shamrock Band sides, they fairly exuded fun. You can hear more of their stuff at the Comhaltas Archives, I appended titles to all the sides (lots of stuff there doesn’t have titles, just “Reels” etc). On some of these cuts you can hear the pipes more clearly than on sides which have been reissued. Dan Moroney was mentioned in an article printed in some 50s jazz rag, article was “Unusual Men of the Double Reed,” and this was quoted extensively in that P Brown article in An Piobarie. I think Dan says in that article that “Taylor was the only pipemaker in America who made pipes that had tone. I have the last set he made,” and I’d heard that it was that set which Owen and then Gene wound up with. 'Course may have these sets mixed up. Next someone will say they belonged to Patsy Touhey…

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As requested by Sean, here are some photos of my recently acquired Patsy Brown chanter, along with the antique set of drones and regs I bought from Sean last year. Sean and some others are of the opinion that the old drones and regs are to likely be Brown’s work. But perhaps Kevin’s hunch is correct and they are by the New York Crowley brothers? Whatever the case, they are a great looking and great playing set.

The chanter is not marked, but is one of two Patsy Brown chanters discovered in 2003 along with a Willie Rowesome set of pipes, which was much discussed on this board at the time. This cache was eventually acquired by Jim McGuire, who had it all restored by Brad Angus (who also restored these drones and regs BTW). I am indebted to another member of the Chiff board, who was willing to part with this lovely chanter so that I could could complete this set.

Rick

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Thank You Very Much for the Photos of Your Set, Rick !
I have to say it’s one of the Lightest Sets of Pipes I’ve ever had the chance to play !
A little History about the “Body” of this Set of Pipes…
In 1973, I played for the Santa Rosa California Highland Games, at the behest of the San Francisco
Caledonian Society, where I was “The Roving Minstrel” with my Northumbrian Small Pipes, and a
Irish Set on loan, of Moss Kennedy’s made in 1959 and in A=452 hertz.
Two Highland Pipers came forward to tell me that they also had Irish Pipes.
One Piper was John Rosenburger (RIP) of San Diego, and the other Gentleman was
Neil Serkland (RIP), of Alviso, California (near San Jose).
Since Neil was very close to where I was living in Monterey, I made a visit to him to see his Pipes.
They had been given to him by someone in the area, but in all the years since 1973,
Neil never revealed the name of this Pipe donor.
This Set consisted of the following Parts: the Mainstock (& Cup), the Chanter Top (with a stop key)
the Drones, and the 3 Regulators.
I tried to buy this from Neil, but was refused. I did put my J.E. Brennan Chanter in Neil’s Chanter Top
and it was a perfect fit, which brought us to a friendly stand-off… I, not wanting to sell Neil my Chanter
(in case I came across some other Pipes of my own) and Neil not wanting to let go of his “Pipe-Body”.
Years and Years later, Neil asked me who he could send this Body of Pipes to,
in order to make it a complete Set…with a Bag, Bellows, Blowpipe, & Chanter etc.
I told him to send it to Brad Angus, because I admire Brad’s work.
This Neil did and he enjoyed the result.
Neil passed away in the Spring of 2010, and I was tasked to sell the Set by Neil’s relatives.
It was posted on Pat D’Arcy’s site and Mr. Lines was the Piper who stepped forward, to help it
on it’s passage through Time & Space…the old Gaelic concept was that things were never “YOURS”
but “AT YOU” (“is Agam”). A different idea about “belonging”, to which I subscribe.
Rick did not want the Brad Angus Chanter, so I reserved a small amount of Cash back, and had Brad
make the Chanter Top, so now, my fellow Pipers you have enough background to this story, me thinks !
Thank All of You Pipers for reading this Thread and all the Contributions to it’s content !
It there’s anymore to add please don’t be shy !
Sean Folsom

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Some say that those little coats for reeds that PJ refers to were actually very popular in Paul Revere’s day. Word has it, when he placed an order for some, he rode ahead of the postman excitedly shouting, ‘The reed coats are coming!’

The are some, however, who contend that it wasn’t reed coats at all, but that he may have ordered a full set of pipes, in stages, because he was heard to have rode ahead of the postman crying, ‘The regulators are coming!’