I have been offered a full set from an unknown maker (middle east?) and a “spare” also nameless chanter.
The set comes with a bag, a nice pair of bellows, chanter reed and drone reeds.
I hope somebody can identify the maker(s) to help me decide to buy or not.
The price is very reasonable, the current owner is a friend who traded this set (and some
other items) from a musician (?) from Canada. He needs the cash to buy an electric
GHB (redpipes?)…
I can’t identify the spare chanter.
The drones, regs and the keyed chanter do look like Kirk Lynch’s work, but most likely in fact are a bad copy of pakistani origin, “Middle East” is a trade name for pipes made in Pakistan and imported to the USA.
They basically make two designs of uilleann pipes, one is based on Kirk Lynch’s pipes, the other on Robbie Hughes’ (only the outer appearance!).
I would stay away from either of them…
The bellows look well made.
I would buy the Bellows and keyless chanter But the rest look like Pakistani sets. For me the giveaways are the regulator and chanter keys (look on ebay) the reed cap (ebay) the cheap screws on drone stock. Not sure of the bag looks ok around the stocks.
You get what you pay for if it is cheap enough it might be worth it
Bryan
I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it as a fake. Where did you come up with the "middle east " term ? If it is a fake the turner done a great job , it is very like the genuine Lynch as above. Can you get a piper to have a look and maybe play it.
The other indication that it may be fake is the stitched bag, you would need to ask Mr Lynch did he ever use stitched bag as opposed to the studded ones.
Needs further investigation.
I second having an experienced piper check them out. That is the best way to know if they are any good. However, for a nice bellows (those are beautiful) and a decent keyless chanter 500 euros is a pretty decent price.
My friend who owns the pipes is very very new to up, has put it together without knowing what goes were. There are no maker marks, I tried both chanters, the keyed one with its own reed and the other with my Arie de Keyzer reed. They play easy, almost two octaves. I will show them to a more experienced musician soon. Thanks!
If the chanters both work, and the bellows as well, then it might be worth looking at. Mid East drones can be made to work if you make sure that they are airtight.
Hi Davy, nice to see you out of the ebay thread( which we are all grateful),you should do it more often. Do you see Uilliam at all these days? if so tell him I was asking for him.
Regarding the suspect set,the corking of the tenons on the regulators is unusual ,it would be worth finding out if that is something Kirk does.
Was playing with him last Sunday in the Dram session. He is in London at the moment and will be for the next 4 weeks.
As to coming out of the Ebay thread, nothing much to say UP wise, having the occasional B session is about it. We are hoping to get a regular one going under the aegis of the Glasgow Uilleann Pipers Club, but nothing has been finalised.
I’ll try the drones with my own adk chanter, the paki-chanter works, the spare chanter is okay and I can use the bellows. Have to decide in a few weeks. Thanks for the replies.
