Simple question, this, inspired by recent discussion. I thought I’d come at the thing from the amateur’s perspective.
What are the neccesary skills to have before you can consider trying to knock up a set of pipes and what’s the best way to acquire them?
Cheers,
Calum
Never mind, just realized that I’m answering the wrong question…
M
Calum, before starting to build your own, you will want to have a fair amount of experience in playing UPs first - a full set - so that you understand what you are trying to achieve. It would also be beneficial if you are familiar with several different sets, so that you can get an idea of the variances and what they mean. Necessary skills that I have observed for pipemaking are some sort of background in metalworking, or at least in jewelry, so that you know how to work metal - required for making ferrules, keys, tubing. You will need to learn how to do spindle work on a lathe. Pipemakers that I have talked to recommend a metalworking lathe due to the greater control and precision these allow over a woodworking lathe. People who use woodworking lathes are bound to disagree. You will also need a good ear, or a good tuner. 
djm
I agree with djm. To do it right, you should be an accomplished piper first.
Having skills as a designer, machinist, engineer (mechanical and audio), woodturner, instrument maker, watchmaker, metal fabricator all seems to be a piece o’ cake after you get the piping part down.
Good advice! I will repeat, in order to be a successful maker you must first be able to play what you want to make. Forget the tuner, you must develop a well traind ear, both for tuning the chanter to the drones and reg’s to the chanter, and for the subtle and not-so-subtle tone colors and balance that you want to achieve. Any machinist can follow plans and make something that looks good on the outside. What separates the men from the boys, is the knowlege it takes to tune and voice them. You need to be a reed maker, metal worker, turner, leather worker and a piper with a good ear to succeed. The question rermains, do you just want to knock off a set of pipes as a sculpture or art project to nail on your wall, or do you want to make a viable musical instrument? The latter is not as simple as it may appear. There are now a large number of full and part-time pipe makers, but only a small number that can make pipes an experienced piper would be happy playing.
Ted
At the risk of being really repetitive, and boosting my rate beyond the desired 0.08 messages per day, here’s the text of my first posting to this forum, way back when…
Does the world need another good pipemaker?
Posted 2003-01-04 22:36
I’m deciding what to do after my stay at home father gig is up. When Liam starts kindergarten ( aprox 1.5 years from now)I’ll need to have something to do that generates some kind of income. I wanted to explore the possibility of making uilleann pipes. It seems like folks are always are on some sort of waiting list to get some good pipes. So I guess the need is high.
Any thoughts on how to get started? Should I travel to Ireland and study or what.
Thanks in advance for any imput.
Phizillip
I’ve been agonizing over these very same questions for something like 27 years now, and frankly, I haven’t come up with any really satisfying answers.
You used the term “some kind of income.” That’s about the size of it. Making uilleann pipes is certainly no sure way to achieve financial security. Everybody I know who has gotten into it has done it for reasons other than because they thought it was a sweet meal ticket. To be blunt, if your prime reason for considering it is because you see an economic niche that you could help fill, you should stop considering it.
The pipemakers who have made a go of it, i.e. been able to keep their noses above water, do it (have done it) because they felt, at least at some level, that they had to do it. They would not have been content doing anything else. This has little or nothing to do with whether they (we) have made good pipes, and consequently does not really have much to do with the question “does the world need another good pipemaker?”
But here are some thoughts on how to get started:
First, learn to play the instrument really well. Second, learn how to make really excellent reeds. Presumably you already play the pipes, so achieving these two goals won’t require much (more) money, but will require a good deal of well-directed time.
Third, get lots of first-hand exposure to the instrument. Look at and study lots of different pipes by different makers of all time periods. You won’t be able to know what’s good (the instrument, the reeds, the playing) if you don’t know what’s been done before. Whether you believe it or not, it’s a pretty safe bet that one or more pipemakers before you have tried just about any idea you can come up with. Since Ireland is the place with the greatest concentration of pipes, pipers, reedmakers and pipemakers, it makes sense to spend some time there seeing what’s what. However, that being said, one of the finest reedmakers I know, a man with broad and deep knowledge of the instrument, has never seen Ireland “or the sky above it.”
Fourth, learn to turn well. Most of what people see and live with in a set of pipes is determined by the skill of the pipemaker as a turner. Fifth, learn to work metal: all the skills of the jeweler and the silversmith are required. Developing skills in turning and metalwork can be done without making pipes, and good instruction and guidance can be had just about everywhere you find people practicing these skills.
At the end of the day, I think that if you are cut out to be making pipes, that’s what you will do, and no amount of advice, good or bad, will keep you from it. I guess if you have to ask if you should do it, you probably shouldn’t.
The only other advice I might say is that you need to develop an ability to tinker and improvise. Most of the skills I’ve built up(painting, sculpture, wood turning, jewelry etc) have been greatly aided by an ability to jerry-rig tools. It can save you time, money and heartache. It can get you into trouble sometimes too, but it pays off more often than not. A good bit of chaos magic never hurts either.
Marc