Hello all. I would like to use my first post here to ask a question about David Daye’s drones. I am a transplant from the Highland piping world and have just recently taken up the Uilleann pipes. I have a Patrick Sky budget set and I’m taking lessons from a local teacher. Things are progressing well and I’d like to add drones soon. My question is about the sound quality of Daye’s drones. The bottom line is this. As much as I am enjoying myself, I can’t afford to spend a lot on upgrading to a half set. Not now, not in the future, not ever. I know you die hards out there will say there is no substitute for a quality instrument and a quality instrument costs, but is there a middle ground? I know to stay away from the MIM stuff so that is not an issue. I look at it this way. A set of poly McCallum GHB’s will never compare in sound to a set of 1800 Glens but that doesn’t make the McCallums a bad instrument. Same goes for the smallpipe world. A set of Walsh poly smallpipes will never compare to a set of Hamish Moore smallpipes but they still sound decent. Can the same be said about a set of Daye drones? I was thinking of adding them to my practice set them maybe later upgrading the chanter but, unless I win the lottery, no upgrade to the drones is planned. Thanks in advace.
No worries. Do it. Worse case you can resell for near what you paid, and more than likely you will be quite happy with them.
My answer is from a only 2 years experience uilleann piper but 12 years of french piping. I have a half set with David Daye drones & reeds. They are not as beautiful as real wood drones but they are very stable and I must say they sound very good, they are very well balanced and it is very easy to make them more or less sensible to pressure as the reeds are synthetic, you just have to move the bridle a bit up or down depending if you have a strong of “soft” chanter reed. Also, the very low cost is, for me, a very good argument for a first set !
I’ll add to that if for some reason you do not like the sound of the composite reed that David provides, they will take cane reeds just as well.
Daye’s stuff is solidly built and sounds better than it looks 
. I’ll just add two points: first, if you re-sell later, be aware that many people avoid “Frankensets” (mixed & matched from different makers’ kit). At this price point, maybe that’s less so.
Based on their respective web sites a stand of Daye plastic/brass mainstock & drones would appear to cost $802, versus $1,550 for the same thing in rosewood/brass from Pat Sky. My second point is that the price-difference may actually be lower once you figure in labor.
When you’re upgrading a practice set with drones from the same maker, most makers will happily “eat” the labor cost of cutting the old bag, tying in the new mainstock, and getting the drones stable and in tune with your chanter. But I wouldn’t assume Mr. Daye will perform that labor for free on a Sky set (some makers won’t touch others peoples’ gear for any price, for lots of valid reasons). So unless you or a friend plan to do the aforementioned bag-cutting, stock-tying, and drone-balancing, you may have additional labor fees beyond the actual gear.
Don’t know whether this is also true of GHB – I would imagine its 8-note chanter is a bit more forgiving than our 2-octave beastie – but it can take quite a bit of adjustment to get even “matching” drones to be stable and in tune at a given chanter’s optimal bag-pressure. (Every time I make a new chanter reed, especially if I’m experimenting with a new type, it’s at least a week before I get my drones back in full fettle!)
I’m not trying to talk you out of mixing & matching. Just don’t over-estimate how much it will save you.
Good luck!
Mick
I’m also a transplant from the Highland piping world, but the transplant was performed over 35 years ago.
When I first took up the uilleann pipes back in the 1970s I remember asking an experienced uilleann piper about the tone of a certain maker’s drones. He looked at me in a puzzled way, and said “they sound like drones!”
The point being that Highland pipers stand around and spend countless hours discussing the tone qualities of various makers’ drones, how maker X has a “deeper bass” and maker Y’s drones are more “tenor dominant” and so on. Uilleann pipers just don’t think like that. A drone is a drone to them, pretty much, and you’ll note on this forum very little in the way of discussing the drone tone of various makers’ pipes, except threads like this one which were started by a Highland piper.
David Daye drones work great. As that experienced piper said all those years ago, they sound like drones.
If you have chanter problems you won’t go wrong getting a David Daye chanter with David Daye reed, either. They always work great.
Thats because the adverage Uilleann piper is far more self reliant,innovative and intelligent then the cleverest highland piper. Where a highland piper receives his instrument ,he accepts the tone it produces even if he doesn’t like it and will begrudgingly play on or throw money at it and buy the most expensive set of pipes possible. The Uilleann piper,on the other hand will adjust reeds or make new reeds until his drones produce the tone he wants. A good set of Uilleann pipe drones should be flexible when it comes to tone. I have found with different reed adjustments or different reeds a wide compass of tones is possible. If truth be said this is just one of the reasons the Uilleann pipes are far superior to the highland pipes and why the thinking highland piper eventually come over to the Uilleann pipes.
RORY
Agree with the above. And drones are so much fun. HOWEVER, I think Mick raises a good point about the mainstock, bag, etc. Tying the mainstock in right takes some doing, and if you mess up you’ll likely need to buy a new bag.
If you’re taking lessons with Pat, why not ask him what he thinks? Unless you get David to do it, I imagine you’ll be asking Pat for help with tying-in, setup, etc.
Good luck, and have fun!
Rory what you’re saying is pretty much the case with Highland pipers too.
On Highland pipe forums there are endless, continuous discussions about the relative merits of the tone of various makes of drones, always started by newbies who think that they can hear a great drone tone from a certain top player, and go out themselves and purchase the same make of pipes and get the same tone.
Then the “old heads” will chime in and point out that top players will get they tone they want from any good-quality set of drones, by their ear and skills with reed adjustment.
My take on it is that the uilleann chanter has to do so much more than the Highland chanter, and uilleann drones in their way must do much more than Highland drones (stay on pitch regardless of pressure changes required by the chanter) so that uilleann pipers are therefore more concerned with getting everything to work right.
This attitude, with myself, carries over to my Highland piping and I’m no “tone snob” when it comes to Highland drones. My goal is to have the drones “work right”, that is, strike in reliably and stay stable. The actual timbre to me is of secondary import.
The actual timbre to me is of secondary import.
Reminds me of what I heard someone say once ‘Why don’t you take up the flute and have a vacuumcleaner running in the background??!’
Thats because the > adverage > Uilleann piper is far more self reliant,innovative and intelligent > then > the cleverest highland piper. … If truth be said this is just one of the reasons the Uilleann pipes are far superior to the highland pipes and why > the thinking highland piper eventually come over to > the Uilleann pipes.
Classic. 
Thank you all. I guess the term " budget" concert drones just set me back a little. In any case, the point is moot as I have just purchased a used 1/2 set of Nick Whitmer pipes, in no small part due to your responses. I’ll be posting my Sky practice set for sale here soon.
! That’s classic.
David Daye’s work is solid. I started off with his practice-set years ago and wish he’d had the drones sooner. But also I’m glad I was able to move up to a halfset from a different pipemaker.
Rcik