We are new to this group and this is our first set of Uilleann pipes.
We recently purchased used, but never played, Uilleann pipes and wondering if any knowledgeable players might recognize the craftsmanship to identify the pipe maker or possible origin?
The original owner never knew much about the pipes except that he purchased them from Walton’s Music in Dublin March 2003 window display. There isn’t any name or identifing marks of any kind. We contacted Walton’s and recieved the following reply:
“They were made by DeKeyser Arie, Unit 2 Malahide Castle, Malahide, Co Duiblin. Ph 00353 1 846 4095. The company is still operation and your pipes are a high quality instrument although due to the cost and length of time involved in making and getting a set of pipes we no longer supply them ourselves. I hope this information helps you out. Regards, Peter”
Checking here to verify accuracy of this reply. If someone has a set like this or recognizes the work in general any information and help greatly appreciated!
We have left a few email inquiries to DeKeyser Arie for about a week and haven’t recieved any reply.
Arie deKeyser sells instruments, mostly flutes, through many shops in Ireland.
If Walton’s tell you they sold DeKeyser pipes there’s no real reason to doubt them. Walton’s have bee nselling pipes for a long time, in fact I bought my own first half set there (and sold it again at the first opportunity, it being not great at all). During the 1950s (Chris langan told me) they had a room with boxes of flat sets nobody wanted piled up. Coynes and Harringtons for a few tenners.
“They were made by DeKeyser Arie, Unit 2 Malahide Castle, Malahide, Co Duiblin. Ph 00353 1 846 4095. The company is still operation and your pipes are a high quality instrument although due to the cost and length of time involved in making and getting a set of pipes we no longer supply them ourselves. I hope this information helps you out. Regards, Peter”
Arie did supply Waltons with pipes for a while, although mostly practise sets and a few half sets. But I think he doesn’t supply them any more. This set is not made by Arie and is Pakistani made.
Sorry for not getting back sooner but i was away for a couple off days.
The set on the pics you send me are not made by me, I am afraid they where made in Pakistan and are full off problems.
I am 100% sure off this because I have exactly the same set in the workshop for a man in despaire .
Also I had a good few practice sets in off the same make.
The big problem with them is that they where made by people that don’t know the instrument at all , they just tried to copy a instrument by Robby Hueghes off Belfast.
Am sure he’s not to pleased about this .
The set looks ok but they ignored the accoustics completely, the reeds look like reeds from a distance but they do not play.
The best thing to do (if you want me to help), is to let me repair the set I
have in my workshop first, then I could let you know what to do and how much it would cost.
The repair off the key is no problem .
Sorry for the bad news but let me know wat you think.
All the best,
Arie.
If you click on the link to eBay you can read the questions put to the seller and the answers he gave. In fairness to the seller, he states that they were probably made in Pakistan.
You might want to read the following threads. They relate to Pakistani made pipes and how they are not necessarily as bad as we might sometimes suggest. The first thread is particularly interesting as it contains an article on rebuilding Pakistani made sets, written by Antaine who regularly contributes to this forum :
