Davey Stevenson???

PJ · Post by PJ » Fri Feb 25, 2005 1:38 pm

I spotted Davey Stevenson's name on another post (which shows a massive G chanter he made). I've not heard of him before. Who is he and what are his pipes like? If making a G chanter is typical of his work, I'd love to see more of it.

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 1:40 pm

It might be wise to use the Search function on his name in this forum... there's been no shortage of discussion.

Here's one of them:

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... stephenson

PJ · Post by PJ » Fri Feb 25, 2005 2:42 pm

I see .... Usually when I hear "health problems" it means (1) the big C, or (2) the old cocktail of alcoholism & depression.

Does anyone have any news about him? His pipes seem to push the limits. It would be a pity if someone with imagination and skill were to drop off the radar entirely.

anima · Post by **anima** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 5:20 pm

Ummm it was more like diabetes I think.

Jeff

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 5:30 pm

Unless I'm mistaken, that G chanter wasn't made by Davy.

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 5:36 pm

It wasn't alcoholism, or diabetes or any such. As best as I can recall, he was suffering from chronic fatique syndrome. There were some other complications and issues surrounding his family that required his full attention. I spoke with Davy a few weeks back, and he is working full time in his shop to get caught up on all old orders. I don't believe he is planning on taking orders again, but will continue to make pipes.

That G chanter was made by Peter Hunter for Ronan Browne. Peter has shared the details for this chanter with me. I've made a few prototypes and they are definately different, cool, but different!

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 5:40 pm

Davey wrote:That G chanter was made by Peter Hunter for Ronan Browne. Peter has shared the details for this chanter with me. I've made a few prototypes and they are definately different, cool, but different!

Got any photos of your prototype you would be willing to share with us David?

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 5:51 pm

Bagpipeworks pictures are still on the archive machine... amazing!
Here's the G chanter that Peter Hunter made:

From this website:
http://web.archive.org/web/200306190901 ... works.com/

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 5:53 pm

That's no chanter, that's a tree!

mukade · Post by **mukade** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 7:55 pm

Whoops, I didn't read the description on the site. I thought it was Davey's own creation.

Here is his description:

www.bagpipeworks.com(Defunct) via web.archive.org wrote: "The chanter pictured above belongs to Uilleann piper Mr Ronan Browne, who has kindly loaned me the instrument to take detailed measurements for my own archives.

The original drawings of this instrument were given to me by my trainer and Uilleann pipe maker Mr Peter Hunter.

The chanter comes in two half's and joins between the G & A notes, with a flat sliding joint like that found today on any modern Clarinet or Oboe.

The overall length is 27 inches including the cap, the tone holes have a slightly wider span than my Bb chanters and are reachable by all but the smallest sets of hands.

The sound of the instrument is what I would call Sax like off the knee and wonderfully mellow on, I will be posting a file of the beast to my site in the near future."

Mukade

PJ · Post by PJ » Mon Feb 28, 2005 8:15 am

Seeing the join between the A and G makes me wounder whether this type of chanter would suffer the same fate as many flutes - cracking along the tuning slide.

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 8:55 am

PJ,

Generally those are stress cracks that occur from the differential in expansion between the metal and the wood. In other words, the brass on the INSIDE of a joint causes the crack when the wood tries to compress around the unforgiving brass. The rings on the outside of the instrument, or ferrules, strengthen the joint and aid in preventing the cracks. As this joint is wood on wood, the possibility of cracking is greatly diminished, especially with the ferrules for added strength.

Davey B

PJ · Post by PJ » Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:02 am

Davey wrote:As this joint is wood on wood, the possibility of cracking is greatly diminished, especially with the ferrules for added strength.

So why doesn't someone adapt this design to wooden flutes - I don't think I've seen a single wooden flute in North America that didn't have some signs of cracking on the tuning slide.

NicoMoreno · Post by **NicoMoreno** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 10:15 am

You answered your own question:

Tuning slides are metal on the inside of the wood. Flutes not having the metal on the inside, don't have tuning slides. Instead they simply have tenons and socket. (See Casey Burns Folk Flute)

fancypiper · Post by **fancypiper** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 10:33 am

Check out Terry McGee's work, he has a neat solution for the tuning slide.

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Davey Stevenson???

Davey Stevenson???

Davy

Re: Davy

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Re: cracks