I’m deciding what to do after my stay at home father gig is up. When Liam starts kindergarten ( aprox 1.5 years from now)I’ll need to have something to do that generates some kind of income. I wanted to explore the possibility of making uilleann pipes. It seems like folks are always are on some sort of waiting list to get some good pipes. So I guess the need is high.
Any thoughts on how to get started? Should I travel to Ireland and study or what.
Thanks in advance for any imput. 
Phizillip
Does the world need another good pipemaker?
Posted 2003-01-04 22:36
I’m deciding what to do after my stay at home father gig is up. When Liam starts kindergarten ( aprox 1.5 years from now)I’ll need to have something to do that generates some kind of income. I wanted to explore the possibility of making uilleann pipes. It seems like folks are always are on some sort of waiting list to get some good pipes. So I guess the need is high.
Any thoughts on how to get started? Should I travel to Ireland and study or what.
Thanks in advance for any imput.
Phizillip
I’ve been agonizing over these very same questions for something like 27 years now, and frankly, I haven’t come up with any really satisfying answers.
You used the term “some kind of income.” That’s about the size of it. Making uilleann pipes is certainly no sure way to achieve financial security. Everybody I know who has gotten into it has done it for reasons other than because they thought it was a sweet meal ticket. To be blunt, if your prime reason for considering it is because you see an economic niche that you could help fill, you should stop considering it.
The pipemakers who have made a go of it, i.e. been able to keep their noses above water, do it (have done it) because they felt, at least at some level, that they had to do it. They would not have been content doing anything else. This has little or nothing to do with whether they (we) have made good pipes, and consequently does not really have much to do with the question “does the world need another good pipemaker?”
But here are some thoughts on how to get started:
First, learn to play the instrument really well. Second, learn how to make really excellent reeds. Presumably you already play the pipes, so achieving these two goals won’t require much (more) money, but will require a good deal of well-directed time.
Third, get lots of first-hand exposure to the instrument. Look at and study lots of different pipes by different makers of all time periods. You won’t be able to know what’s good (the instrument, the reeds, the playing) if you don’t know what’s been done before. Whether you believe it or not, it’s a pretty safe bet that one or more pipemakers before you have tried just about any idea you can come up with. Since Ireland is the place with the greatest concentration of pipes, pipers, reedmakers and pipemakers, it makes sense to spend some time there seeing what’s what. However, that being said, one of the finest reedmakers I know, a man with broad and deep knowledge of the instrument, has never seen Ireland “or the sky above it.”
Fourth, learn to turn well. Most of what people see and live with in a set of pipes is determined by the skill of the pipemaker as a turner. Fifth, learn to work metal: all the skills of the jeweler and the silversmith are required. Developing skills in turning and metalwork can be done without making pipes, and good instruction and guidance can be had just about everywhere you find people practicing these skills.
At the end of the day, I think that if you are cut out to be making pipes, that’s what you will do, and no amount of advice, good or bad, will keep you from it. I guess if you have to ask if you should do it, you probably shouldn’t.
David Quinn
I think he was looking for someone to talk him into it, or out of it. Which means he’s sitting on the fence right now. Time will tell if he will do it or not.
My two cents is that it’s much like any other artistic persuit. There’s a lot of hard work, a lot to learn, and you’re likely to not make much money at it. However if it is what you desire, what you are driven to do, you will find much more satisfaction and happiness doing it. Even if you end up not being the richest artist in the world.
Dionys
David,
Welcome to the C&F Uilleann Pipe Forum. Quite a first posting…
What an honor to have someone such as David Quinn around. You can tell to read his post that he’s courteous, knowledgeable, and has tons of experience. For those not acquainted with Quinn, other than having heard that he’s one of the most famed US uilleann pipe makers around, David is one that has the answers to most of our questions, even though his modesty might cause him to deny it. Details are his specialty.
I would look forward to a “Quinn” thread that would be kind of like a call-in radio program, where we could ask him question and rest assured that it was the RIGHT answer.
How about we let him be a person instead of a celebrity. Let him chime in when he wants, feels like he has something to contribute, and more importantly when he has time.
Dionys
phizillp , " curiosity killed the cat ,
satisfaction brought him back"
Thanks, everyone for you 2 or more cents. I’ll let you know how things go.
Phiz