Hello all,
I’m new to the piper world and am wondering if having different pieces to the pipes from different makers is wrong or makes the instrument sound bad. This may be an easy question, but there is a great deal on a chanter discovered. Also, if I were to buy the others parts i.e. bellows, bag, and drones, who should I purchase them from? I like Cillian Vallely’s playing, should I go with Alain Froment’s pipes then?
Quite a few people have sets comprised of different makers, as long as the set is in tune with itself and the various joints fit well, I don’t see a problem with a ‘Franken-set’. 
You’ll probably be waiting half of your lifetime to get a set made for you by Alain Fromment… he’s got a very long waiting list.
Is there such thing as a used instrument store on the internet for uilleann pipes then? Or is it just that you have to keep searching for the right equipment on Chiff and Fipple (hehe)? Also, if not a used instrument, do you have suggestions for other makers if not Alain Froment? I’m looking for a top-quality maker with a reasonable waiting list if any…
Where do you live?
I’d just like to mention that players like Cillian Vallely will sound like themselves playing on any good set. The player’s set is very personal, but the player’s style is vastly the most important factor. Many of the world’s best players play or have played more than one set of pipes by different makers, and their styles ve been unique to them all along.
Check the “for sale” sections of NPU and Patrick D’Arcy. You can also put up a wanted add on the NPU site.
http://www.pipers.ie/en/default.lasso
Check your Private Messages
My C 3/4 set has a Mark Hillmann bag and bellows, Seth Gallagher chanter and regulators and Pat Sky drones.
I haven’t gotten the regs tuned and balanced yet. I think I am going to have to make arundo donax reeds rather than using the phosphor-bronze reg reeds that came with it. I have destroyed the baritone reg reed when it crunched as I put the reg into the mainstock once while on my pain meds. 