New Dixon Drones? Thoughts?

[billh]

Well, I reckon the upshot of all this is that a bad website can give a bad impression (rightly or wrongly - sometimes there are hints on a site that all is not well). But on the other hand, don't be taken in by a pretty website! [*]

You aren't buying the maker's IT skills or even their business acumen (though I reckon you don't want them to go out of business )

It's no wonder that many makers don't have websites at all, or have minimal sites set up by friends or acquaintances.

[*] edited to add: this is a general comment about pipemaking websites and should not be taken as a comment on CJ's work or site.

[PJ]

Being in the process of setting up a website for a small business, I am well aware of how much it can occupy one's time. For certain businesses it is now essential to have a website and for those it should be considered an investment, if not a loss-leader.

I'm not sure that pipemaking falls into the must-have-a-website category. I've bought pipes from several makers and the fact that they were or were not online didn't come into consideration. So while it's nice to brouse through the makers' websites, look at the shiny pipes and listen to the sound samples (while the boss is not watching), in the end, before parting with hard-earned cash it comes down to whether the individual maker makes good pipes!!!

[lordofthestrings]

Getting to the topic of the new drones...

I have a 3/4 set of Chris's on order, should be showing up in February!! I'll let you know what its like. Chris has been an absolute saint dealing with me, highly recomended!!!

[Uilliam]

Getting to the topic of the new drones...

. Chris has been an absolute saint dealing with me, highly recomended!!!

"Here is the end for my new bass drone design.. Bless Ye Lord o the strings" :
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

[Joseph E. Smith]

Chris has a nice site, loads of pretty photos and all, he just needs to replace his drones sound sample with one that is in tune. Beyond that, I'd like us to steer clear of making "quality" judgements sans personal experience.

I'm not saying a good, well researched and thought out critique is out of the question, I encourage them, but I would like to caution all to weigh their words carefully here.

And to back up lordofthestrings, Chris is a very nice and considerate man to do business with... and that's from my personal experience. Dude bent over backward to accomodate my concerns with the bellows I have of his make... which is still pumping away faithfully.

[Cayden]

A general remark that any maker who doesn't seem to be able to provide demo-samples of his instruments playing in tune doesn't incite a lot of confidence shouldn't be out of order or should it?

I (and judging by the PMs I am not alone in this) quite strongly feel that if a maker, pipe, whistle or other as a sales pitch/demonstration provides sub standard samples I will be very suspicious of his instruments until an up-close and personal evaluation tells me otherwise.

If a maker doesn't like that we can only remind him it's his responsibility and his only how he represents his own product.

[Joseph E. Smith]

A general remark that any maker who doesn't seem to be able to provide demo-samples of his instruments playing in tune doesn't incite a lot of confidence shouldn't be out of order or should it?

I didn't say it was. But (as is often the case in this particular forum), these conversations tend to take a downward spiral route toward locking... I wish to avoid that. Is that unreasonable of me, or out of order?

[mike spencer]

I am a newbie and i have a half-set from cjdixon with his new drones;in fact the ones in the foty ,ithink:cocobolo with blackwood mounts.the workmanship is outstanding but unfortunately i will not be able to tell if the drones are good bad or indifferent for quite a few years as i cannot tune them accurately yet.Also i play ghb and you know what a raucouse noise they make.Therefore i will have to trust in chris because he tested them before he sent them and he said they were wonderful.

[Uilliam]

Mike if ye play the GHb ye surely have to tune the drones on them?So what is stopping ye doing it on the UPs??The principal is the same and it should only take ye moments to do.Get thee to a piper don't wait years
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

[Joseph E. Smith]

Mike if ye play the GHb ye surely have to tune the drones on them?So what is stopping ye doing it on the UPs??The principal is the same and it should only take ye moments to do.Get thee to a piper don't wait years
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

Dive right in and and figure out how to do it, but I strongly recommend you practice without them. Get used to how your chanter is supposed to play etc... etc., then once you both octaves, their fingerings and pressure securely under your belt, mess around with the drones a but.

It is important to stop bad habits before they start, hence waiting to play with the drones until you are ready to do so.

[Uilliam]

The flip side of course is that if ye have one drone on say..then ye will be able to hear it wavering if ye dont have the right pressure or ye are using the bellows instead of the bag.This can be an aide to your piping,notwithstanding what Joseph said about mastering the chanter which of course is the priority...
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

[mike spencer]

Thank you for your support gentlemen.I can tune ghb's but with modern tuners it is a simple job.You clip the tuner onto each drone in turn and watch the needle as you tune to A.If you can get someone to help you can actually play a tune while they are tuning the drones.In a few minutes you could even teach your wife how to do it;even your dog,as long as it's a bull terrier.You won't believe this but I taught sidedrummers to tune ghp drones so it has to be a simple operation.U.P. drones are a different kettle of fish;a lot more complicated but I will persist with this infernal machine and eventually i will tune the drones.Thank you gentlemen,mike.

[PJ]

I occasionally use a guitar/bass tuner to tune my drones. I close off all the drones except for the tenor and tune it to D. I tune the baritone to the tenor and then the bass to the tenor - occasionally I use the bass option on the tuner to tune the bass drone.

Then I tune the chanter and regs to the drones.

The results are usually good enough for me.

[mike spencer]

Thanks for the tip PJ ,I have a guitar tuner so I will try that method.Mike

[mattpiper]

Thank you for your support gentlemen.I can tune ghb's but with modern tuners it is a simple job...

<rant>
A modern tuner, with either GHB or UP, in my opinion, can be of great use to the training of the ear, but one should be able to tune drones (and chanter and eventually regs) without a tuner. You never know when you'll find yourself in an environment where you don't have access to a tuner. For my GHB students, I have a month's worth of lessons dealing with both drone tuning and chanter tuning, and continual work every few lessons from there; there is always room to improve ones tuning.

As one said to me once, a well-played instrument completely out of tune sounds awful. A well-tuned instrument played poorly is merely unpleasant. And if one has taken the time to insure proper tuning, more often than not, the playing is equally good.
</rant>

But I'm happy to hear you've been using a tuner in the meanwhile! Now just get to training those ears!

And of course, once your ear is trained, there's nothing like going back and checking it with that modern tuner.