I’m kicking aroung making a set of drones and was wondering if there are any pipe maker’s or do it yourselfers like me out there who have tried using holly. I liked the idea of a light colored wood contrasted with ebony or blackwood mounts. Is there any reason why holly won’t work?
-Leech-
Davey Stephenson:
Holly mounts have been used before. It’s a very light/white wood.
I have been told, however, that it has a habit of going grey when exposed to light/air.
Bill
And Grubby fingers!
You can always dye holly wood black or colour it down to any colour you want, 
I have four or five chanters made from holly, holly gives a lovely warm sound, makes lovely drones also, and its very cheap, couple of quid a chanter blank, 
so its certainly good wood to work with if you are training in making pipes. 
all the best.
I’ve also been looking for a source for boxwood. Anybody know a connection? I’m also a little curious about pearwood. Would pearwood be at all suitable for an uilleann chanter?
-L-
But why?
Personally, I feel that holly is a lovely wood, even with grubby fingerprints… adds to the charater of the chanter. Dying wood is something I would only persue in an attempt to enhance or highlight its natural grain.
I suppose if your set is an ebony one playing with a white holly chanter might put pipers off, but the warm sound obtained from holly seems much prefered to than ebony or blackwood,by pipers who have played on my concert chanters, but when I have showed them a dyed jet black holly polish chanter they go for that one, 
with matching mounts and metal work, one piper prefered a dyed pear wood chanter, my next projects are to make half sets out of dyed holly and pear wood, to see what some local pipers make of this new projects. all the best Joseph.
I can see wanting a certain ‘look’ (like the formal black and white) that some pipers prefer… or in my case, the ‘look’ being my fondness for the cocobolo, boxwood and brass combination.
G’luck with the experimentation.
Andreas Rogge’s personal B chanter is in pearwood. If you hunt around uilleannobsession.com, I think you’ll find pictures of a pearwood set by Koehler & Quinn as well. The short answer is “yes.”
No E
Here’s some regulators of pearwood (from uilleannobsession).
Not sure of the wood, but here’s the look you describe. Guess who?
Paddy Keenan’s chanter is boxwood, by Benedict Koehler and David Quinn. Its not super loud, and has a lovely tone: not harsh at all. The chanter fit in very nicely with the Dave Williams body, which I believe is a copy of Keenan’s original Crowley set. I had the privilege to play this set a few months ago, and was blown away; lovely instrument altogether.
I missed Paddy in Asheville, didn’t know he was going to be there, thought my buddy Matt McNeely would’ve let me know, DO YOU HEAR THAT MATT??? Can’t wait to see him in person. You’re lucky boys.
Tim
I love the look of lighter coloured pipes contrasted by dark mounts. I would make a chanter out of bone if I could.
I’ve been using dogwood for mounts. It turns nicely, and looks similar to boxwood (Being a little bit lighter, and with a slightly more visible grain). That being said, I’m doing that mainly because it is free (my dogwood stock was rescued from the fire wood stack), and, once I’ve gotten the moves down on dogwood, I will switch over to ivory or boxwood for the mounts. As far as making the chanter itself, boxwood would be my first choice. I have seen a Rogge B set in plum, which had a nice sound. Brad Angus has made at least one set out of apple wood, which I don’t think has been mentioned. I haven’t seen or played it, but I think there are pictures of this set on Mr. D’Arcy’s ever helpful websight. Like I said before, boxwood is my personal favorite as far as the lighter woods go, but it is expensive and hard to find.
[shameless plug] www.gnipc.org [/shameless plug]
Woooooo Hooooooo, Paddy and my pal Eamonn, have to look at my calendar with work.
Thanks
Tim
Anybody ever seen olivewood used for pipes? Now that’s beautiful stuff.
Doc