chanter for sale

Uilleann Pipes
21

It sounds like it would be difficult to allow someone to adjust the reeds on a set - under any circumstance. Sometimes pipers will turn down an inquiry to try someone’s chanter since everyone blows the reeds differently.

Alain Froment had started offering assistance and professional guidance to HEVIA as he thinks they have the interest and potential. I am not sure there is any formality to that agreement. He has visited their workshop and know that the equipment is in place to turn out great pipes.

Agents to help move their goods (and more than just uilleann pipes)? - sounds like a forward-thinking move to me. The principals concentrate on making great sets while people help move the merchandise.

22

Thankyou Jim for the info…Interesting and puts things into perspective a bit more I think.Balance is what I was looking for and what jim gave..
Watch this space as they say… :wink:
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

23

I started off this thread trying to sell a chanter hich incidentally is still for sale :slight_smile: ! However I seem to have opened a can of worms! I speak only from the point of view of the small craftman, one man making uilleann pipes. I am aware of Froment’s involvement with Hevia. With all due respect , Jim, I am not sure that this kind of ‘forward thinking’ as you put it, is a positive thing. After all Craft is about traditions and traditional ways of passing the knowledge (ie master craftman to apprentice) as Geoff Wooff and others ,have done by taking on an apprentice. This is surely a far nobler ideology than contributing further to the problems of globalisation. Our society is full of examples of quality and diversity being the first victims of such policies: ie smalll shops versus, superstores, Mac Donald’s versus traditional eating places. No matter ho good the products they cannot compete For example a piper’s club sent 18 customers(students) to Hevia. This is a year’s work to most pipe makers or 6 months between two.
This isn’t a case of professional jealousyand I am making no judgement upon the quality of either Froment’s or Hevia’s pipes. I am simply concerned with the philosophy behind such ventures and the possible repercussions on the uilleann pipe making community, which is largely motivated by passion and not money. Most of us settle for survival. Are we going to be denied even this?

24

Motivated by passion would mean that one would only charge for the materials, not labour. Is there $5000 worth of materials in a full set?

Cheers,

DavidG

25

Obviously you pay for the skilled labour and not materials. A full set takes between 4 to 6 weeks. A good reed can take days and costs around 50, euros. Personnally my hourly rate is considerably less than a plumber, builder, or a teacher. Get your plumber to work for you every day for 6 weeks and see how much he charges you!

26

Then there’s considerably more than ‘passion’ involved. There’s the bottom line to maintain. Therefore, most makers do it for a living. You can’t make a living on passion alone. Economics 101 comes into it - maximum gain with the least expenditure. Hevia attempt that through agents who look after the field work while they look after the manufacture.

Cheers,

DavidG

27

I think the point Brendan is trying to make here is that there is a big difference between one or two craftspeople working on a set of pipes in a workshop (most pipemakers) and small scale mass production (Hevia).

Most pipemakers have probably thought of ways they could improve their rate of work but have seen that as a step away from what brought them to the craft. The change from an intimate involvement with each piece of wood or metal to what would be more like a factory job.

The passion is in the process of staying close to the material and the craft. In a small manufacturing set up the “worker” will not need to care as much and the managers will save money by employing less skilled people.

I would always prefer to buy from someone who is committed to their craft. But just like my local specialist shops which are closing down and being replaced by coffee shops, economics may take that choice away from me.

David

28

That’s just an emotional attachment.

Sometimes the ‘setup’ takes longer than the actual operation. If a pipemaker can afford the time and money to make things in batches… say 3-4 sets at a time he would benefit in the long run…

From experience, I’ve found production setups generally have a higher tollerance of accuracy than ‘one-off’ custom work. He need not ignore involvment of each piece but save time with individual setups.

29

I think the difference is in the (by the description) wobbly keys, the non balanced reeds,(from a nother description) the willingness to ‘assemble’ the whole thing in two weeks and what Geoff Wooff told me the last time I saw him: that he was still hanging on to the C set that was to go to Japan, more than three weeks after he finished it but he was still not quite happy with the set up of the reeds and the balance of the whole thing. Attention to detail, the urge to get it right for the player and the knowledge and skill to actually deliver something going very good.

30

Point taken, and I agree totally. Appologies to Brendan for my misunderstaning and rashness of response.

Cheers,

DavidG

31

Dear Members,

I have just come across the various postings regarding the pipes from Hevia as witnessed at the recent St. Chartier festival.

Is seems that there is a lot of misinformation going around about the company and its pipes.

Now up front I want to state that I am one of the so called agents for Hevia based in Ireland. To my knowledge there are only about two agents representing them a the present time.

But in order to try and put forward a response from Hevia I have detailed a few points below. I fully accept that everyone including other makers are open to express their own opinions. As mentioned by others the ultimate survial of Hevia will depend on the success of their pipes in the market.

I started as a customer of Hevia some months ago and was very happy with the pipes that I received, I have had no problems with them to date. I agreed to try and help them liase with customers in Ireland primarily because their English was not perfect and it was better that someone local could acually demonstrate the pipes to prospective customers.

Hevia are not a big company in fact there are only three guys that make the pipes. This is not much bigger than other makers and couldn’t be classed as a major operation.

So far in Ireland Hevia have presented the pipes at the national Tional and the Willie Clancy week and have got favourable responses which have turned into customers and orders. Hevia are also attending the William Kennedy piping festival in October.

The issue regarding mass production is also blown out of proportion. The only automation that they utilise is the use of computer programs for controlling their lathe, ensuring that all wood turning is repeatable and accurate for all parts made. Every other part of the manufacture and assembly of pipes is done by hand, which follows the methods that all other makers use which therefore must include passion and tradition.

The fact the Alain Froment has visited them and has provided help mainly centres around his Flat set designs which Hevia have not started making yet. Their concert pitch set is the result of years of research and dedication to learning the craft of UP design and manufacture.

The issue on liability being lost when working with agents is also not true. Most importantly Hevia are the makers and provide a 12 months guarantee with all sets sold whether through an agent or otherwise.

In summary I think that some of the comments made do not reflect the actual situation on the ground and certainly they have not had this level of negative feedback from customers that have actually purchased pipes to date.

Is there room for improvement?? off course !!! this is a a long road and it will take a lot of twists and turns to get the level of respect that the likes of Froment, Woofe and others are at, but one would have to agree that this doesn’t happen overnight. Hevia are committed to the craft and have proven to date to many that they are on the right road to achieve this.

Thanks again.

32

Well Said :party:

33

Alanj…thanks for that I wouldnae take it to heart.Ye had 2 negative contributors Mike who tried a set and Elmek who I think is getting info second hand?hardly worth losing sleep over.
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam :wink:

34

I was at willie week and was present after the lunch time gig when Hevia were displaying their pipes and I wasn,t overly impressed either .The chanter sounded fine on its own but when the drones were switched on they were very quicked off .the chap playing them seemed more concerned with the tuner he was playing with (trying to get the regs going) then getting the whole set going together which he never did .

My tought at the time was if you going to show your pipes to pipers should they not be prepared and have them working spot on at the time ?

RORY

35

Make that 3 :astonished:
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

36

add another..
Heard them at a tionol (yup, more than one set) and i was not impressed.
I’m being kind of mild here too.. :roll:

37

Well, given that all it takes to make a set of pipes sound like rubbish is to have a couple of drones out by half a millimetre, or the bridle to be out by less than half a millimetre, or the tongue on the guill to be out by half a millimetre, then even a most expenesive Woof Set could just as easily be misconstrued as crap on a slightly bad day.

Cheers,

DavidG

38

Plus, there’s the comments of others who have played Hevis sets themselves such as on this thread -

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=24595&highlight=hevia

39

This debate has run its course… and it has been a good long while since anyone has responded to the original topic.