I’m wondering if B and D wouldn’t be a better choice. There are plenty of Bminor tunes that would go nicely on a D chanter with B drones humming away well under it all. Food for thought.
[quote=“PJ”
I’m thinking about Bb and D - imagine the effect of the key change!! You’d have to be pretty quick on the change from one chanter to another - but maybe there’s a way to have 2 chanters on the one bag, fitted with chanter stop valves. Imagine what that set would look like - Cerberus
quote]
Ah, c’m on, get past your Jimmy Page-stage and focus on making music 
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You may be on to something here!!
What if…
Instead of 2 sets of 3 drones, you had 3 sets of 2 drones (and either a 4-way switch or three 2-way switches). Have three base and three baritone drones, B, D and E. That way you could cover Bmin, Dmaj and Emin. Now all we have to do is figure out a way to add Gmaj and Amin and we’ll never need regulators again!!
On the topic of D/C convertible drones, has anyone from the uilleann world ever tried out the concept of “tuning beads”? On a set of Northumbrians, the drones often have a hole drilled a whole-step higher to enable changing the drones to fit the key of the tune. However, this can also enable the player with a traditional (e.g., “flat”) set in F to re-tune drones to play with a concert G chanter. The “bead” is nothing more than a brass ferrule which can be rotated to open the hole. I’ve even (IIRC) seen sets with more than one tuning bead on some drones, to enable more than a whole step change in pitch. This would require the drones to be built or reeded in “C” first, and then the “D” hole/bead created to raise the pitch.
I once briefly owned a set of Swedish sackpipa, and the single drone on that pipe has an open hole which allows the piper to cover the hole and drop the pitch of the drone (sort of a keyless regulator).
Best,
Tim
Yev all gone feckin’ bonkers!
Mukade
Yes, it is true. Nutty as fruit bats are we.
Talking about crazy…
I have posted this pic before. It’s a Davey Stevenson G chanter that was on his now defunct site.
Has anyone ever heard one of these beasts play?
Mukade
AAAAGGGGHHHH 
You’d need hands like shovels to play that chanter. I can only imagine the drones and regs that go with that set.
Where can I get one of these??
We humans cannot actually hear the G chanter.
When you play it, elephants and cassowarys on the other side of the globe pick up the infrasound generated by such a chanter.
It makes them dance.
t
Alain has added a 4th drone that can be (1) shutoff all together, (2) opened to play ‘A’, or (3) ‘A’ is shutoff and ‘G’ opened.
From Tim Britton’s website:
It is possible to convert a D set of drones and regulators to C# or C. This is done with small adjustments to or replacement of the reeds along with adjustments to the tuning slides. This allows one to economically enjoy the richness of the flat pipes, effectively having two sets for the price of one plus the cost of the flat chanter.
Thanks blackbear. Now I just have to find myself the money with which to buy a nice flat chanter.
Maybe its just me, but I find switching between a D chanter and a B chanter takes me a while to re-orient myself due to the very different finger spacing. I can’t see much benefit of hauling multiple drones around out of one stock (which would weigh a ton) only to have to stop and re-aquaint myself to each different chanter. Certainly I would not want UPs to start being designed like NSPs, which sound so comical they make me laugh.
djm
I play tin whistle quite a lot, and sometimes in sessions I play the first few parts on the pipes and then switch to whistle (or vice versa). I’ve never experience problems with the finger spacing when I do that, so I don’t think it would be a problem with changing chanters.
I have a set with 5 regulators and 3 drones. Two of the regulators are “outboard,” obviously this is merely scratching the surface, drones take up much less room than regulators, I’d say a standard size main stock could hold up to 20 drones around its circumference, and say 13 different drones in the stock itself, thus 33 drones = 11 different tonics for 8 different pitches of chanter (Bb, B, C, C#, D, Eb, F, G) of course Eugene Lambe has adapted the French convention of attaching the tenor drone to the chanter’s windcap come to think of it you could mount tenor drones on standard regulators as well.
Or just play a tune.
I’ve a tape of Ronan playing that G, even he has troubles covering the holes. Mr. Siccama’s keywork might help here.
Some makers put bigger toneholes on their flat chanters. Lewis Blevin’s Quinn C chanter has holes about the size of my old concert chanter. Quinn is more into the Willie Rowsome type of pipes - slightly louder than the Coyne/Egan/Kenna type that Wooff, Angus, and others make. The smaller holes have more of that nasally sound to them, they crossfinger the notes better, too - adjusting the pitch of a note by closing more of the holes below.
How big are the holes on Joe Kennedy, Boisvert, and Fremont chanters? I was surprised that Larry D. said his Froment had toneholes about 1/8" - 9/64" - I’ve seen pics of flat Froments with huge holes on 'em.
Nice avatar…I think I’ve seen it somewhere berfore…if I could only remem…
I can only speak for my own Kennedy B chanter (based on Wooff’s Egan Bb plans).
Back d = 4.36mm
c# = 4.21
B = 4.17
A = 4.41
G = 3.78
F# = 4.21
E = 3.96
Eb = 3.61
Bottom D = 10.41
Hope that helps,
djm
My CR D 1/2 set has 3 D drones, 1 bass G drone (I have it tuned to A currently), 1 baritone A/G drone. The 2 extra drones are unswitched in that their airways in the stock are drilled straight through to the bag. The Bass A drone has a plug in the end that is removed to play and the A/G drone has a sleeve to turn to open the A note and a plug on a rod to pull down to sound the G note. The stock has 2 remaining holes with plugs in them that are unswitched. I’m sure for the addition of regs (maybe in ten years or so when I can make a decent go of a tune with the drones going).
It is a lot of sound (and pumping) with all five drones going. I like the sound of the Bass drone tuned to A better than G with the chanter and the D drones.
John
Joe’s basing a B chanter on a Bb chanter?
If I recall correctly, yes - not a blind copy, but he used the one set of plans to extrapolate the general measurements, then redesigned it to get the sound and playability he wanted out of it through making multiple iterations.
As I recall he did the same sort of thing to come up with his initial C# design, as well. In each case he ends up with a design that is uniquely his own, but based initially on the work of former masters. He is not just slavishly copying someone else’s design, but working to get the sound he desires from the chanter and set as a whole.
djm