I spotted Davey Stevenson’s name on another post (which shows a massive G chanter he made). I’ve not heard of him before. Who is he and what are his pipes like? If making a G chanter is typical of his work, I’d love to see more of it.
It might be wise to use the Search function on his name in this forum… there’s been no shortage of discussion.
Here’s one of them:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=20217&highlight=davy+stephenson
I see … Usually when I hear “health problems” it means (1) the big C, or (2) the old cocktail of alcoholism & depression.
Does anyone have any news about him? His pipes seem to push the limits. It would be a pity if someone with imagination and skill were to drop off the radar entirely.
Ummm it was more like diabetes I think.
Jeff
Unless I’m mistaken, that G chanter wasn’t made by Davy.
It wasn’t alcoholism, or diabetes or any such. As best as I can recall, he was suffering from chronic fatique syndrome. There were some other complications and issues surrounding his family that required his full attention. I spoke with Davy a few weeks back, and he is working full time in his shop to get caught up on all old orders. I don’t believe he is planning on taking orders again, but will continue to make pipes.
That G chanter was made by Peter Hunter for Ronan Browne. Peter has shared the details for this chanter with me. I’ve made a few prototypes and they are definately different, cool, but different!
Got any photos of your prototype you would be willing to share with us David? 
Bagpipeworks pictures are still on the archive machine… amazing!
Here’s the G chanter that Peter Hunter made:
From this website:
http://web.archive.org/web/20030619090144/http://www.bagpipeworks.com/
That’s no chanter, that’s a tree!
Whoops, I didn’t read the description on the site. I thought it was Davey’s own creation.
Here is his description:
Mukade
Seeing the join between the A and G makes me wounder whether this type of chanter would suffer the same fate as many flutes - cracking along the tuning slide.
PJ,
Generally those are stress cracks that occur from the differential in expansion between the metal and the wood. In other words, the brass on the INSIDE of a joint causes the crack when the wood tries to compress around the unforgiving brass. The rings on the outside of the instrument, or ferrules, strengthen the joint and aid in preventing the cracks. As this joint is wood on wood, the possibility of cracking is greatly diminished, especially with the ferrules for added strength.
Davey B
So why doesn’t someone adapt this design to wooden flutes - I don’t think I’ve seen a single wooden flute in North America that didn’t have some signs of cracking on the tuning slide.
You answered your own question:
Tuning slides are metal on the inside of the wood. Flutes not having the metal on the inside, don’t have tuning slides. Instead they simply have tenons and socket. (See Casey Burns Folk Flute)
Check out Terry McGee’s work, he has a neat solution for the tuning slide.