Has anyone tried to build a set based on Leo's personal set? PJ
I don't know, but why would you want to, as regarding the chanter, they say Leo made his set when he was 19 years old which would have been in 1922 when A=453hz was standard, not A=440hz. Leo's chanter as I understand was a little shorter at 14 1/4 in. than modern D chanters. Leo preferred being a little sharp of modern concert pitch too I gather. I think Leo's set sounds great, but it would mean everyone would have to tune to you in a session, unless you intend to only perform solo, or have a fiddler tune to you.
Master piper maker Geoff Wooff had this to say in The Seán Reid Society Journal. Volume 2, March 2002. 2.04 5):
"One problem that people have with trying to recreate the sound of the master pipe makers is that without an original example, reeded by one of those masters, we can only imagine the tone and volume. To describe what I mean, listen to the tone of two Rowsome chanters on recordings. Try comparing Leo Rowsome playing his own set to Paddy Keenan playing one of Leo’s chanters with his own reed. The tonal difference is striking. Paddy’s tone is thick and almost flute like,whereas Leo’s tone is reedy and oboe-like. The reed-making styles are quite different.
Many people have tried to make a C or B chanter after spending many years making and playing the concert pipes. The result is often a flat pitched concert type chanter too loud and with the fundamental dominating the harmonic structure. The problem here is quite involved and starts with the preconceptions of the maker. I will therefore attempt to describe the utter difference between the two types of chanter currently being used.
The modern concert pitch or ‘D’ chanter of the wide bore type which is usually modelled on the 14 1⁄4 ”long Rowsome. Whatever about the relative width of the bore, the finger holes are much larger than those of the classic makers and are varied in size e.g. the F sharp hole much larger than the E hole. These chanters were designed to play in D, but that is at the pitch standard prevailing at the time which was A= 453hz. This standard pitch was changed around 1930 to A= 440hz, a drop of half a semitone!
This drop in pitch did not bother many pipers who just played away as there were plenty of other instruments that were also in this higher pitch. However with the revival of interest in pipes in the late sixties these ‘D’ chanters were made to play in modern concert pitch by applying a wide and heavy reed that was scraped to produce a natural note, when sucked, of G or even F sharp. This does bring down the overall pitch, but leaves the instrument sounding dull and ‘heavy’. The typical staple diameter was also reduced and, with the use of a rush in the bore, the two octaves could be lowered in pitch together.
However the result as I see it, is that a whole generation of pipers have grown up using and thinking that these are the real thing. The classic chanter, or ’flat’ chanter, with its narrower bore and small relatively sized finger holes needs to be coupled to a smaller reed that has only been scraped so that its natural note, when sucked, is the A of the chanter or a little above. At the same time the reed head needs to be reasonably light so that it can respond to the small pressure changes caused by the small finger holes. So here is quite a different and lighter reed head playing at a higher pitch for the classic chanter and a heavy, strong reed playing a lower pitch for the concert chanter!"
Donnacha Dwyer has made chanters based on the measurements of the Liam O'Flynn Rowsome set made in the 1940's, and a Rowsome set made in the 1930's when A=440hz became the standard.