http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=16226&item=3732380598&rd=1
I’m just back from The Floating Tionol. ( What a really great experience! Wonderful bunch of fellow fanatics and a superb way to share piping and make new friends ). Just checked into the forum and spotted the half set. I had my doubts so I checked with Brian ( even though he’d just spent all his waking hours keeping all of us happy ) and he says the chanter is his but the stock isn’t because his have always been clad in metal. He says the drones aren’t but the bellows might be but he doesn’t think so. It’s hard to remember every set when you’ve been making them since the 70’s.
If the stock nor drones are Brian Howard’s, whose might they be I wonder. Truth to tell, I’ve always thought the inside ‘U’ was a neat design.
Maybe that is why it advertised as a ‘half set’, half of it seems to be by Brian Howard?
Six of the eight sets of pipes on the go at the Floating Tionol were Howard sets. Maybe that’s why we sounded so good. I also had the chance to play a (Howard again) double chanter from 1980, the first time I had played such a device. What a mad sound, great busking chanter methinks.
The bellowes are almost certainly made by Cillian O’ Briain. He uses the flexible hose and same design as the ones pictured.
Also looks like a Allan Moller Bag. (Top Quality if it is)
Good eye Ben. Those do indeed look like Cillian O’Briain bellows. I have a set of bellows almost identical to those (mine have black leather gusset and straps instead of brown). They’re nice and compact while still providing plenty of air.
No E
Hi all,
The drone stock and shut-off valve look pretty identical to my Roberts set. My key is straight and this one is bent to go around the drone.
John
Didn’t Charles Roberts offer a “compact” drone set up? Anyone out there have one (and if so, how does it compare to the set on offer)?
No E
There is a fellow by the name of Geordie Ord, who I believe owns a C. Roberts compact set. I met him at the Florida Tionol this past February. The drones had a great rich tone from what I can remember.