Hey! That Swift statue looks all chewed.
Somebody’s bitten his arms off!
I f**king hate that statue!!! 
Nice point though. It’s nicer to be honest than just ‘nice’ on occasion.
Regards, H.
[quote=“dencar”]I’ve recently taken delivery of one of Brians new half sets. The chanter plays beautifully, the drones are consistent. …
And so they should be!! 
I don’t think anyone here has said otherwise,
the point I am making is that Brian tends to be a windbag, ask anyone who knows him frae Milltown,
as for being a brilliant engineer…emhhhh,he was a lecturer in engineering was he not…!!that doesnae make him brilliant.Manhattan bridge now thats what I call brilliance.
Brian has been very critical of others in his time so perhaps a statue should be erected in recognition of his almost divine contribution to the world of piping,in O’Connell Street, wearing his medal of course,his 71 page fingering chart under his arm and waving his latest “paper” on pertubation to the world…his acolytes clustered around his feet…oh no methinks I may have given him an idea 
Slan go foill
Liam
[quote=“Kevin L. Rietmann”]Does he seriously think he’s going to copywright those little “X|XXX|XXXX|X” charts we use? Here called “Shorthand©”? Wasn’t he the bad guy in one of the Mr. Moto movies?
From the self-proclaimed greatest pipemaker of our times, according to Uillaim. When you going to learn to make chanters that don’t look chewed on, Brian?
I think your being purposefully obtuse here. Have you missed the piont? Did you in fact “reed” it properly? It was meant to be a joke DUH. If you read it again its going to be “shortfinger”! It was quite tounge in cheek - lighten up
With regard to the chewed on look, I dont see a problem with a scolloped back D Ive seen chanters with all but the c# scolloped. Its an asthetic thing. As long as it plays ok what’s the difference?
I have a “scolloped” (sic) Britton chanter which is quite beautiful in design. That back-d scallop by Howard is ugly. Scallops, if you have them at all, should be (imho) shallow and ergonomic. Howard’s indeed looks more like someone took a big bite out of the chanter. In fact, unless it’s also somehow countersunk in that bite, I’d guess it’s less practical than a simple, countersunk back-d.
Dionys
You know very well there’d be war if the noises from the corridors of Miltown would be aired publicly. A lot of people including myself have over twenty years experience with Brian and opinions about him are to say the least, mixed. But he brings it partly onto himself, as someone once said, he’s his own worst enemy [and an unbelievable motormouth]. He generates controversy, often of his own making. Better let sleeping dogs be. He’s due a bit of credit too.
His pipes are ugly beyond description. That’s true.
[fixed a typo or two]
Wow, this thread is great, and lotsa wisdom, especially from glands. Anyway, just wanted to say that I have met Howard last july in Miltown and as a person I think he’s great, and I really liked his low whistle and his high D wasnt too bad. Now, the pipes might suck, I wouldnt know. He wasnt an incredible player either, but at least enjoyed playing 
Chadd,
(to borrow from Victor Borge)
Mark Twain had a statue erected to him, but Jonathan Swift was a bust!
::rimshot::
but despite his physical ailment, Swift was happily married…Mrs. Swift, however, was not…
dees are da jokes, folks…
Peter Laban wrote: He’s his own worst enemy ( and an unbelievable motormouth).
Why blow your own trumpet so loud?
I am not blowing my own trumpet, it was in fact Breandan Breathnach who said that after evicting Brian from the reedmaking room during a Willie Clancy week during the early eighties. An event which has been a sort of recurring feature of Willie Clancy weeks since.
I have no problem with Brian, he is Brian, not by far the best pipemaker nor by far the worst [who’s blowing trumpets about that all the time, now you mention it]and that’s it as far as I am concerned but if you pushing it you may wake up people who DO have a problem with the way he makes his way through the piping world. Sleeping dogs, as I said. No trumpets inolved in this.
Boy, the stories I’ve heard and could tell…
Regarding scalloping,can I once again say that in most cases, scalloping is done for tuning, and if half the chanter goes missing to get it in tune, so be it. If it’s done purely for aesthetic reasons, then the pipemakers not been doing his homework correctly.
Alan
Just pots calling the kettle black. Are you peeved because you got the New Year Quiz wrong?
Hey!? Wait just a minute! I haven’t imparted any wisdom to this discussion!?! 
Apparently you didn’t follow up on the McSink reference and spot the tongue in cheek. Given the number of pipemakers working in Ireland at teh time and out of them the ones who would have bothered entering the choice is fairly limited. Add to that your own pre-occupations in pipemaking and the answer would be fairly obvious.
It means very little though this whole Comhaltas competition thing, the outcome is not of much significance. A few years ago a new Garda sergeant was appointed locally, he didn’t last long as he tried to stop double parking outside the supermarket on mainstreet but that is beside the point here. Much discussed was the fact he was supposed to be a musician who was awarded second place in an accordeon competion once. This was discussed in between tunes one night and there was some speculation about his skills. This went on for a while until a fine fiddleplayer [ and former accordeon player] said ‘I saw that competition, he was the only entry in it.’ 
now boys,play nice.
Coming back to the title of this thread! The chart is superb and I recommend it to anyone interested in piping rather than bitching.
Shouldn’t you say that it is not scalloping for the tuning or esthetics but giving flesh for the pin mounting. So to see on a very long D chanter nearly a narrow bore D pipe.
Hmmm, I think saying that you should try to let the music and ear guide your fingers was very wise of you, but I might be wrong!
In a word, no…
Scalloping is a term used for reducing the wood on/around the notehole, producing a narrower chanter wall at the notehole thereby affecting the pitch of the note and maybe others into the bargain. Some think it’s there for a more comfortable experience.
Pin mounts… humbug, you just nail 'em on 
Alan
has anyone managed to get no 71 the third E to play anything like in tune?? Both my rowsome and williams chanters are nearly a semi tone flat
Howard says the fingerings on his chart are for his chanters. He gives a
couple alternatives for 3rd E (#71) x XXX OXXX]X or c XXX OXX]X c=half
holing the thumb. These give my chanter an Eb.
The 3rd E that works for my older Quinn is #72 o OXX XOXX]X