Casey Burnes?

pancelticpiper · Post by **pancelticpiper** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 5:38 am

Wow Casey, an uilleann chanter that's easy to reed and plays bang-on at A=440???
If you could make consistent good-playing copies of that, you'd have more orders than you could cope with.

I have a friend, a fine Highland piper, who wants to get into uilleann piping and is dismayed and discouraged by the situation in the uilleann world:

-The best makers are no longer taking orders.

-Seems that makers who have waits less than five to ten years are making instruments that just don't play very well.

-If you buy a used chanter, chances are you'll never find anyone to make a reed that will work in it.

He has bought a number of chanters through various sources and none of them are playable.
There IS a market for uilleann chanters that WORK.

Casey Burns · Post by **Casey Burns** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 8:31 am

The Achilles Heel of bagpipe making is the reeds. I don't have time to make them for other people, much less myself. Yet pipers commonly expect the makers to provide these rather than learning how to make their own. This works in the Highland world and the Spanish (thankfully!) world if you know where to look but nowhere else.

Denny Hall and I came up with an alternate pricing structure for Uilleann Pipe half sets. One would have to sign a contract first. Then pay these prices:

Half set, unreeded, with all the trimmings $100
Reed Set (first one required per contract, extra ones optional) $4900 per set

These are current minimum prices that I would charge. The reed set would not be guaranteed to work - since sending these to a different climate entails risks and the piper then mucking with them entails additional risks beyond our control. However, the first set of reeds would be required for purchase per contract.

Fipples to me are as or more difficult than reeds!!!!!! I'll leave the fippled to the fipplers. The flute embouchure is very easy for me. And with clarinets, the reeds are widely available, as well as mouthpieces.

Casey

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 9:14 am

Pity the poor piper. His needs exceeds his reeds.

Akiba · Post by **Akiba** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:25 pm

Most oboe players, I believe, make their own reeds, certainly all the ones I've met in the classical world (I've heard a couple at it, making their reeds with the very grating, buzzing, loud, high-pitched noises that go with it). Perhaps pipers need to do the same while risking scaring and ticking off the rest of their neighbors and loved ones in the process...

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:35 pm

Akiba wrote:Perhaps pipers need to do the same while risking scaring and ticking off the rest of their neighbors and loved ones in the process...

I'm seeing a disconnect here!

Akiba · Post by **Akiba** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:41 pm

Denny wrote:
Akiba wrote:Perhaps pipers need to do the same while risking scaring and ticking off the rest of their neighbors and loved ones in the process...
I'm seeing a disconnect here!

Hey, don't get me wrong--I love the pipes and the oboe. But the sounds of reed making are some of the most nail-on-chalkboard sounds I've heard, and I have no problem with my little ones banging the piano, drums, tambourines all at the same time. Just a friendly warning to those interested in the reed making path.