Uilleann Pipes wood, mounts, and tone

[Brazenkane]

Hear hear, Bill! Very well written....!

[KevinCorkery]

Its hard to believe what I just read. Take Bills advice and get a cheap practice set. Practice for a few years and then make a decision. Don't write about multiple regs and drones untill you have used a bellows. Physically you will find it challenging.

[Elmek]

Its hard to believe what I just read. Take Bills advice and get a cheap practice set. Practice for a few years and then make a decision. Don't write about multiple regs and drones untill you have used a bellows. Physically you will find it challenging.

I'll second that and have had a half set for ten years and am only just feeling up to the task of taking on regulators
Even better advice was given in the first reply to your posting

Chris Bayley wrote:
Best advice I can give is get yourself along to a pipers gathering, club or tional and see and hear sets by different makers and form an opinion from this. Sound clips on U Tube and websites are all very well but live is best and you will in a better position to see how an instrument plays. Some clubs have practice sets to lend out or at least use at their meetings to get an idea of how the instrument feels

I think most makers if reading what you have written would want to run away from this potential order
John

[Mr.Gumby]

I think most makers if reading what you have written would want to run away from this potential order

I think most pipemakers will be too busy filling their existing orders without spending time on the R&D to realise the fantasy of someone who doesn't know, and possibly doesn't understand, the nature and realities of piping with the risk of always being associated with a particular monstrosity.






The six drone/separate switches thing has been done though, Nick Adams' 'travelling set' springs to mind, weird regulator configurations have all been done too. As have sets that cost a fortune and weighed a ton or two. Makes you wonder why they never caught on though, doesn't it?

[bensdad]

Why worry about the design of your black belt when you haven't even ordered your keikogi or stepped onto the mat.
Hell, you haven't even found the dojo yet.

[Elmek]

A nice picture Mr Gumby but I cannot help but feel that Wyatt would find this set with just four regulators a wee bit restrictive for his needs

Pehaps this would be better for him as it has effectively 10 regulators



Cannot think of many makers who would want / could do a copy of a set in this style and suspect it would be rather expensive (mortgage level ?) if they did

A Question: why do people come onto the forums for advice and help and then ignore everything they are told ? (Perhaps this should be a separate thread)

John

[Mr.Gumby]

Cannot think of many makers who would want / could do a copy of a set in this style and suspect it would be rather expensive (mortgage level ?) if they did

Well that's one that weighs a ton or two anyway. And it has the ability for powerchords, or to insert a traffic jam imitation into the Foxchase ('fox crosses the motorway here').

I can remember a few people who were pushing makers to do exactly that job. I think one of them managed to get someone to actually do it.

Pipemakers do get that sort of requests, problem is that a lot of the time the people making the request just want something big to get a what they think is impressive, look.

I think makers are slightly more likely to be responsive to well thought through balanced musical needs when asked to make something out of the ordinary.

[PJ]

Since we're there, I'm going to resurrect my suggestion for a rotating mainstock with 10 drones, and when you play it, the whole unit rotates like a gatling gun:



The carriage would be an optional extra.

[Mr.Gumby]

I actually played a Taylor set that had a stock a bit like that. Steampacket took the pic.:

[rorybbellows]

Joe Doyles set made by Joe Burke( ? ) is kinda heading in that direction


RORY

[Mr.Gumby]

That would be Johnny Burke. In fairness to Joe, he does make good use of those extra low notes at times. Had forgotten about that picture, it has been a while since I took that.

[Cathy Wilde]

Wow. Just looking at all that gear makes me feel very tired.

[mke_mick]

Agreed. I'll be quite happy (and quite a bit less terrified) to add two non-weapons-grade regulators to my half-set some day!

[WyattPauls]

I'm not considering going out and buying pipes like what I exlplained, but what I'm doing right now is brainstorming.
You can braistorm as much as you want, because the possibilities and world of music and pipes is multifarious.
Even if a finished product does not meet up at the highest level of said brainstorming, the finished peice will at least end up better than if you decided not to braistorm on the extreme levels. I'm only thinking about extra regulators because I know that it could be useful. And Chris Bayley offers a six drone system on his pipes, three drones D, and three drones G. Extra drones are a very viable possibility.

Does anyone think any of my ideas were good ideas? Or should I just dump all the thinking in the river and leave it alone at the prospect of a mere everyday desicion? Personally, I would think it is worthwhile to consider every possible extra you could add.

[KevinCorkery]

Pick up the saxaphone, that goes well with electric guitars. That only has one reed. The basic full set has 7 reeds and you are talking about 10 reeds or so. You have no idea how fussy a double reed can be. It rains, its hot out, its cool, its arid, the reed needs adjustment, over adjustment can kill the reed. Then you have to make one, that may take 20 tries to get a reed that is as good as the one that has been ruined. You have no idea what you are getting involved in. Do you have the patience to make so many reeds and then nurture them to keep each one working. There is no standard chanter or standard reed, each makers is different, you can't just buy reeds, even from the original maker they arrive and will need adjustment. You should spend time reading the FAQ's on this forum and research the net, watch youtube videos about reedmaking and think this out again. Honestly, this is a big bag of worms and needs dedication. Sax is a cool instrument and the reward will be much quicker.