I’m going to be collecting Elder wood again this year and need to know the minimum diameter of the throat and minimum length, so that if I find any suitable, I can pass it on to anyone who fancies having a go at making a UP Chanter.
As I’ve said before the wood has a specific gravity of about 0.8 and comes with a hole down the middle.
John S
Ack, American elder has a huge bore - 1/4", 6mm perhaps, in sizes suitable for making a chanter. Way too large for the throat. Another species might have a small enough “pith” to carve out a chanter, one of the maples perhaps. Is European elder small enough to work? 5mm would be about the maximum. 13mm at the large end. Or are you planning to use elder “lumber”? Quartersawn stuff, in other words? Doesn’t sound like you are, though. You could “fill in” the throat to reduce the diameter, lots of wide bore chanters need that anyway.
Is this a school project? Seems kind of sadistic to let kids near double reeds!
Hi Kevin, thanks for the info, I’ve seen pieces with small enough bore and length but not so far large enough diameter but I think there will be a small percentage that fits the bill it’s just a matter of finding it.
Last year I mostly collected for Whistle making but this year I’m collecting larger diameter stuff as well with a view to making a set of GHB Drones in an 18th century style.
http://www.goodbagpipes.co.uk/scottish_highland_pipes.htm
John S
Barnaby Brown! I’ve heard a pearwood set of Highland pipes up close and they are great music.
I used to have a set of Kintail Highland Pipes that looked like the one in your pic…Kintail calls them Chalice Pipes. They look and sound great. Have you checked out Kintail’s web-site? http://www.kintail.co.uk/images/CB4_celtic_imit_ivory.jpg 
I still own a set of Kintails… they’re kinda dusty right now though. 
I now own a set of 1/2 silver made by Morton Bagpipes of Canada. They are African Blackwood but have a reddish hue throughout as compared to a very dark brown or black. The drones tune very quickly and sound sweeeet!
I’m wondering just how an Uilleann chanter can be made from elder, if elder has an ‘existing’ bore? Would one look for a piece that had a bore measuring the same as the throat and then ream up from there? Would the OD of the elder then be too small to make the chanter? So many questions, so little head.
Yes Joseph, that’s the Idea; it’s just a matter of finding a piece with the right dimensions.
John S
It sounds like an interesting project, I’d like to read about the results of making this chanter.
