what other pipers think of uilleann pipes

[chanterdan]

i found this on another forum,and had to share it,thought it was pretty funny.HA! Stay away from Uilleann bagpipes. They are ridiculously overpriced. Still, very hard to find a good sounding set. Most makers just want your money and are not capable of making good sounding chanters and especially reeds. And then even if you have an acceptable quality/sounding/playable instrument, you will find that learning to play the Uilleann pipes is horror. Most chanters I heard and played are out of tune in either the first or second octave. Most have terribly weak croaking back D.
On the other hand, the Great Highland Bagpipe (GHB) and its bellows versions are the best type of pipes on Earth. You have dozens of makers all selling high quality instruments for a fraction of the price of Uillean sets. The chanter reeds are well standardized, stable, high quality, good sounding and inexpensive. GHB chanters are very easy to tune perfectly compared to Uilleann chanters.
Huh

[CHasR]

hahaha yeh I read that too: guess he/she really digs SSP's...
o well

[MarkS]

Sounds like someone needs to get out more.

The [GHB and SSP] chanter reeds are well standardized, stable, high quality, good sounding and inexpensive.

OK, but they're only required to play in one octave. Go for two, then we'll talk.

GHB chanters are very easy to tune perfectly compared to Uilleann chanters.

Shirley, you jest.

[brianc]

Yeah, the old "It's too difficult so I'll criticize it" routine.

Oh well, I guess it's true what they say, 'We often criticize what we don't understand.'

Feh.

That highland piper/whinger might want to see the first set of highland pipes that I'd ever seen... they were in excess of $10,000,000 - and that was some 15 years ago. The piper that owned them also owned a set of UPs made by Dave Williams that cost far less.

[chanterdan]

Sounds like someone needs to get out more. mark, iam not the author , its not mine ,read it again .geeze

[Darran]

maybe we should get everyone a set of glasses on the forums, what with the amount of misinterpreted/read posts lately

[MarkS]

Sounds like someone needs to get out more. mark, iam not the author , its not mine ,read it again .geeze

Sorry chanterdan, that was intended for the author, not for you.

[gillespie]

I think we should just let them think that. because if they think that these things are so outrageous all in all, it'll make the good sounding players look like gods

[G Burman]

Hah, sounds like another jealous snob who will never know the joy of dedication, patience, humility, eccentricity, adventure and best of all, the satisfaction that comes with success when we challege ourselves with a truly unique and difficult instrument. Oh, also I would recommend not inviting that person to a session.

[Uilliam]

Thought for the day;
It may be worth remembering that whatever anyone else thinks o me is none of my business .
Uilliam

[nadav]

as a GHB player, i want to comment on the high-quality GHB reeds.
let's say you buy 5. you'll then expect 3 to be okay (or at least playble), 2 of them are in tune close enough to what you want, but always not really there. 1 of them will be harder then you want, and 1 will be okay.
and this is from a well reputated pipe-maker... ( in a good day )


MarkS wrote

OK, but they're only required to play in one octave. Go for two, then we'll talk.

i've heared GHB going to a second octave... but that just because the set was very crappy,and couldn't get down from the high notes to the low notes without ugly overtones... yes.... Pakistan's wounderfull sets are everywhere... and that set was untuneable at all...

[Joseph E. Smith]

Stay away from Uilleann bagpipes. They are ridiculously overpriced. Still, very hard to find a good sounding set. Most makers just want your money and are not capable of making good sounding chanters and especially reeds. And then even if you have an acceptable quality/sounding/playable instrument, you will find that learning to play the Uilleann pipes is horror. Most chanters I heard and played are out of tune in either the first or second octave. Most have terribly weak croaking back D.
On the other hand, the Great Highland Bagpipe (GHB) and its bellows versions are the best type of pipes on Earth. You have dozens of makers all selling high quality instruments for a fraction of the price of Uillean sets. The chanter reeds are well standardized, stable, high quality, good sounding and inexpensive. GHB chanters are very easy to tune perfectly compared to Uilleann chanters.
Huh

I'm willing to bet that this indiviual is a "closet" Uilleann Piper... someday they'll "come out" and then the world will be as it should be.

[rgouette]

And then even if you have an acceptable quality/sounding/playable instrument, you will find that learning to play the Uilleann pipes is horror.

That's hilarious!

[mark2olson]

On the other hand, the Great Highland Bagpipe (GHB) and its bellows versions are the best type of pipes on Earth. You have dozens of makers all selling high quality instruments for a fraction of the price of Uillean sets. The chanter reeds are well standardized, stable, high quality, good sounding and inexpensive. GHB chanters are very easy to tune perfectly compared to Uilleann chanters.
Huh

Pipe smack! (I thought that was limited to rivals in sports)
Regulator envy, perhaps?

[CHasR]

Thought for the day;
It may be worth remembering that whatever anyone else thinks o me is none of my business .
Uilliam

(O I wish youd put a picture to go with that one Uilliam...)

If im not mistaken; the author of chanterdan's quote visits THIS forum regularly also...