O'Mealy Pipes Question

proud son of my father · Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:16 pm

Hello - Yes my first posting on your forum - My Father owns a set of O'Mealy Uillieann pipes that are in need of restoration - they are moutned in either ivory or boxwood as I best recall - though fine per se they haven't been played in 40 years or so - in fact one very, very early memory of mine is of him playing them - I am 42. Nothing has been done to them, except storage in a closet with related chanters by other makers (by whom I do not recall), reeds, bellows, the odd lever and so on (if I use the wrong terminology please forgive me).

It needs help and I know enough tnot to touch it, they must be heard again and so that is why I searched for such a forum as this.

In order to revitalize them to playing condition do you have any suggestions for us?

Then where would one go to learn to play them?

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:33 pm

Make it easier on us... where are you located?

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:36 pm

Welcome to Chiff & Fipple...
don't forget to read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) located here:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... 922dfdb020

proud son of my father · Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:59 pm

OK, sorry - spaced the location thing - would have been sensible no? - I am in NYC, though the pipes are in California.

My father bought them form a piper in SF about 1962 or so (my Mother can still recalls his name) and it was he that brought them from Ireland years before that.

Last they were played was prior to 1968.

My Father was taught what he knows by that piper and also Dan Sullivan (who as I recall was a larger-than-life man with a great voice and fantastic Cork accent which I can still 'hear' today!)- we visited Dan and Tess often when I was a child, and my Father also learned form Donald Shaw-Ramsey (but for bag-pipes).

I know nothing about playing pipes - so I begin by sweeping the floors - so what to do with that set of O'Mealy pispes?

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:13 pm

What should you do with them? That depends on you. Do you want to get them refurbished for yourself to play them? Are you just looking to sell them?

With vintage pipes it is best to contact a highly skilled pipemaker, but he will ask you the same questions. He will want to get paid for his work. Do you intend to pay for the work for yourself, or pay for the work through resale?

In the US you could contact Koehler & Quinn, who have experience restoring old sets. In Canada, Joe Kennedy has experience restoring old sets. In Ireland there are Geoff Wooff, Alain Froment, Cillian O'Brien, and many more. But the first thing to do is decide what direction you want to take with these pipes.

djm

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:32 pm

Contact (professional) piper, Jerry O'Sullivan in Yonkers, NY. for lessons:
http://www.jerryosullivan.com/

Pipemaker Brad Angus in Vancouver, WA, is noted for restoring older sets:
http://pageproducer.arczip.com/halfandhalf/

glands · Post by **glands** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:43 pm

I would recommend that these pipes visit Benedict Koehler and David Quinn for an evaluation and perhaps restoration.

sean an piobaire · Post by **sean an piobaire** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 3:43 am

Yes, I know about those pipes! They used to belong to Paddy O'Neill and your Dad would be Jim Fitzgerald? Your father gave me three chanters in 1973: a Rowsome chanter with the top hand bore reamed out (that got stolen in Dublin), a warped boxwood Scots chanter, and a J.E. Brennan of Philadelphia "D" chanter, those two, I still have. Do you still have your Mother's Kennedy practice set? (chanter, bag, and bellows) she used to take lessons from Paddy O'Neill, with that instrument. You could use it to start with, while you have the other set worked on. Ted Anderson would be the man to fix them up... near to San Francisco, phone 707 878-9978. I'm here with him working on pipes etc, just now. Go see David Power in New Jersey for lessons, or Bill Ochs on 46th st. and for that matter, Jerry O'Sullivan in Yonkers.... Yeah get em going they're a lovely C sharp set and Paddy bought them from the Heally School of Irish Dance in San Francisco, just after he immigrated to California in the 1920s Denis Brooks knows all the exact details, I'm fading out on some of it myself ! Great to hear you're going to take them up! Sean Folsom

Kevin L. Rietmann · Post by **Kevin L. Rietmann** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 5:23 am

I replied to this and it didn't go through...

Anyways all the known recordings of O'Meally himself can be heard at this web page. O'Meally used an unusual setup of baritone, bass, and double bass regulators, which can be heard on these recordings. He also liked to play a double chanter, although you don't hear that on these recordings. I remember reading about Paddy O'Neill's pipes in the early issues of the Piper's Review, I think they had both double bass reg and double chanter. Is this the set, Sean? Sean has a double bass reg on his old pipes, he could steer you in the right direction about putting reeds in that puppy. Double chanters are a bit of a nightmare to fit up for reeds, they have two bores, two reeds, two sets of fingerholes which are played simultaneously. Sort of the Doublemint chewing gum Irish bagpipe! I've monkeyed about with trying to put reeds in them and all I can say is good luck! I'd definitely go about learning on a normal chanter, the double chanter is really cool when it's working though.
Ted Anderson has a Taylor Bros. set with double chanter and double bass reg so he's another guy who could help you along with these things, if you do have them. Glands (who just posted) has an O'Meally set himself, or did you part with that set, Lewis? Koehler and Quinn restored them so they'd know about what kind of reeds would work in O'Meally's stuff.

DMQuinn · Post by **DMQuinn** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 5:48 am

The "O'Mealy" set that Dr. Glands acquired was not an O'Mealy set. It was made by William Hamilton. It is a very interesting piece in its own right, but not by R. L. O'Mealy.

I have to agree with Sean the Piper: If the set is in California now, the man to look at them would be Ted Anderson.

If the owner brings them back to NYC, I feel reasonably sure BK would be able to help.

proud son of my father · Thu Sep 29, 2005 6:58 am

DAMN! So much for user names on this forum! Are pipers psychic? or are you all clairvoyants? What gives?

And by the way - I recall you very well today though it has been many years. Thanks for posting a reply.

OK so you are right - memories like yours would confound the experts. Whatever I am pleased that obviously hit the correct board.

As for Paddy O'Niell - that sounds right but at least I'd have to double check with my Mother. As for him buying them in SF - I had thought he brought them to the US - so i am wrong, but I do recall the Healy dance school very well as my sister went there.

And as for the other sets or parts thereof, I must admit that there I cannot recall much, I'll have to talk to my sister about all this as she is interested too, and perhaps even more so then I.

sean an piobaire · Post by **sean an piobaire** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:59 am

Yes..... son of James Fitzgerald.....I'm reading you now on the emanations coming through the ether.....What's that? yes, your father is a Good Limerick Man.....and yes, the uilleann pipe community was once VERY TINY..... and some people in a locality all knew each other....there were the Cotter Brothers, Dan Sullivan (and Tess), Paddy O'Neill, your mother and father,........... and the man who played rings around EVERYBODY...Dennis Brooks... rumor has it he'll be at the Tionol at Seattle next February. I wunna be there for that one! Sean (nonclairvoyant) FOLSOM