I’m just beggining the pipes. I am a college student and that means I have extremly little in the way of funds to buy a Practice Set. I was able to borrow a set for 2 months and that got me addicted. I am handy and can build the bellows and bag my self (Actually I have them almost finished), but the chanter is beyond my current abilities to build. I was looking at the Penny Chanter from David Daye for to use as the chanter for my set of pipes. Does anyone have any reviews or thoughts on this chanter? If you can’t suggest this one is there another chanter that you would uggest for me. Or purhaps could you point to a website or book that can show me how to build a chanter?
Thanks
Urger, there are two strongly divided camps on the Penny chanter, those who think they are great as a low-cost introduction to UPs, and those who think they are a waste of money. Do a search on this forum, rather than restart the flame wars again. Also, see the FAQ for general info.
Just about any maker can build you a plain chanter. If you specify no keys, no key mounts (for later upgrade), no trim, and that you want their beginner model, you should be able to get a lower cost chanter. Try to find a maker near to you, so you can go to them in person to bitch and complain … er… get assistance as required. 
djm
Thanks for the info. I will certainly do that.
Another alternative to the penny chanter:
From the uilleann mailing list:
For those interested I am starting to make a budget practice set consisting of a straight ebony chanter with no keys or keyposts, an imitation leather stitched bag and leather bellows. No Ivory very plain. All that said, this chanter plays just as well as a fully keyed model. Going price is $600.00 and right now the wait is only 2 months. Chanter only is $350.00. Click here for photo:
Budget set
All the best,
Patrick Sky
(919) 929-2048
plsky@intrex.net
I have a penny chanter i just got it this past xmas im sure we can work some thing out if you interested it has the black plastic body instead of the white plastic body so its a little nicer looking. I have the bellows that look decent and i upgraded to the leather bag. i built it myself so of course it isn’t professionaly done. Im a college student myself so think it was a good move considering my financial situation. if you want i can send you pics just email me and let me know: pdcarroll@stevenscollege.edu
you can add to the two different opinions about david daye’s penny chanter a third. mine is that, especially under certain conditions, daye’s black penny chanter is wonderfully suited for stage and pub gig use. i have had chanters that were by no means cheapies,Johnny burke’s, leon rowsome’s,eugene lambe,brian howard and no other has performed in public as well as my daye chanter. it is brilliant, especially when you learn the subtle art of reed adjustment, which is a must to learning to deal with any chanter and its reed. the chanter never changes shape in ANY weather /climate conditions, and the reeds are treated with some wood treatment that makes whatever weather changes there are affect the reed slowly, never in the middle of a set of reels. i live and play publicly in finland, sub-zero and dry weather conditions much of the year. when i used blackwood chanters, i simply did not play any gigs between Christmas and saint Patrick’s, and even in march it was touch and go would the chanter play entire gig sets without going terribly sharp and bottom d notes going gurgly. this is not a problem with daye’s chanter. as a semi-professional player in the sub-arctic, i highly recommend this chanter for ALL PURPOSES.
For an opposing opinion, see this thread.
the thread sited has brian lee giving negative feedback on daye’s penny chanter. and his truly is very non-specific. and he is the ONLY piper to give negative feedback on this chanter.
royce clearly would like to give it negative feedback, but instead, inadvertently praises it. “it works great and the reed is great”. he uses when his other chanters peter out. THAT’S THE WHOLE IDEA. the penny chanter doesn’t peter out!
and then we have unconditionally positive feedback, with specifics, from
kevin popejoy
tansy
Bwilson
janice
alaska piper
and Rick Hall
folks, i thinks it’s pretty obvious. the penny chanter is a wondeful innovation. but definitely, get the black one made by dave himself.
I think Urger’s PM’s have done the talking. Interesting to say the least. I wonder how many here would believe it.
Well, I believe that some people actually enjoy using Windows and think that it is better than Linux, but I never could figure out why that was.
for $430 bruce childress has a rosewood chanter with reed (and it will have the mounts for later key adding - $450 for blackwood). This was my choice and involved a summer of saving but was well worth it. The chanter is of a quality that will not require you to replace it with a higher quality model at a later point.
The reed has given me little to no problem over years, so in that respect I also highly recommend it for a beginner…
I throw in my vote for Andreas Rogge’s polymer chanter. I don’t think you can go wrong with one. Good sound, good playability and fairly indestructible (the chanter, not the reed, of course).
Huh??
Are you asking for comments to a private message you received from Urger?
Huh??
Phil, are you hanging out with Brian again?
No comments needed Tony - thanks. Sorry, I was just thinking out loud there. I do think Urger has a pretty good idea of what he’s getting himself into. If you guys want to re-hash the whole Daye thing again though feel free.
Have a nice day. 
Was just thinking that, since no pennies are involved in the construction of these PC things, somebody ought to suggest a change of the name of the so-called instrument.
Since many if not all of the materials used to craft the chanter are used in the plumbing of toilets, and my impression of the instruments I’ve seen and played would be best characterized as “flush it,” I’ve come up with a few bathroom-realted alternative names. In the interest of not being offensive, I’ll not list them here.
Somebody recently called my Beehive set ugly. He hadn’t seen the beehive set but is certainly entitled to his opinion. I wonder if he has gone on record about the PC…which must be about the ugliest thing in the world if ones reference is the beehive set.
Regarding low cost alternatives, I have played one of A. Rogge’s practice chanters and can say that they are infinitely better in character and tone than the PC but no where near the quality of a reasonable wooden chanter. One of my students has a Bruce Childress chanter that I reeded and it is quite nice. Patrick d’Arcy gets a great sound from his M. Preshaw chanter reeded by an up and coming reed guru in LA. I’m not endorsing any of these particular chanters here as I know there are variations in tone and quality from instrument to instrument and I have had some less than desirable experiences with similar instruments by these makers. Yet, I believe them to be preferable to the PC. I will, however, endorse the PRACTICE chanter made and reeded by Benedict Koehler. It is not very much more expensive than some of these other instruments and is, as a PRACTICE or LEARNING chanter, based on my 6.5 years experience, superior to the best chanter models crafted by all but a handful of makers.
Interesting how man’s impatience in many different aspects of life has led to the creation of low cost desirable and yet worthless alternatives.
Years ago, I sat in a class at Miltown where someone in the class remarked how awful Taylor pipes looked in comparison to Padraic MacMahuna’s Leo Rowsome set (that was right in front of us).
Sean Potts had a go on my Taylor set early on Sunday at Cavan earlier this month and (before putting them on) kept on saying ‘Jim, this is art, absolute art’.
A lot of different opinions out there!
Actually, if you’re objectively open minded to the cosmetic difference, a white PVC & brass tubing penny chanter is rather good looking. I’ve had mine 2 1/2 year’s, and my only complaint has been the usage of PTFE tape, instead of hemp on the chanter, to secure the windcap. The reed seem’s to tolerate our dry Santa Ana wind’s quite well.
Since many if not all of the materials used to craft the chanter are used in the plumbing of toilets, and my impression of the instruments I’ve seen and played would be best characterized as “flush it,” I’ve come up with a few bathroom-realted alternative names. In the interest of not being offensive, I’ll not list them here.
Considering the amount of acoustic engineering that Mr. Daye input into his design, chanter & reed’s, I’m surprised he sell’s them for as little as he does. Overall, my impression of Daye’s chanter’s is much higher than my impression of American physician’'s.
The most important element in a good chanter is having the throat smaller than the rest of the bore, which will make the hard D easier to obtain and hold. Toneholes should be voiced - undercut and shaped - instead of simply drilled. Those two things will firstly make the chanter much easier to play, and second, much nicer sounding, even if it’s a loud design. Chanters that don’t have them are hard to play and nasty sounding. Us pipers with good chanters have discovered this for ourselves…
There are indeed a lot of TERRIBLE doctors out there. Be careful and be your own advocate for health care. Fortunately, the good ones outnumber the bad ones. I wonder if this is true of Uilleann pipes.