I hope advertising my set of pipes without having contributed to the forum is ok - I was a member a few years ago but have since forgotten my username and password.
In May 2007 I bought a practise set of pipes from Andy Faden, who learnt pipemaking from Cillian Ó Briain. Having not played the pipes in over a year now I thought it was about time to sell them on.
The pipes were bought for £1060 (£660 for the chanter and £400 for the bellows and bag). The chanter comes with a c natural key and is made of ebony and brass, with a wooden top. The reed, I believe, was also made by Andy Faden, but has been adjusted slightly by Alan Burton and the bag was made by L & M Highland Outfitters Ltd.
A piper here in Sydney plays an andy fayden chanter. I had a go of it the other week and was quite happy with its performance. Comfort and feel were great and the reed was bright and loud under very little pressure. Mark, the owner is also very happy with it.
Andrew
Hi A! Yeah, I should say: I’ve had my Faden chanter for about a year and have been nothing but happy with it. If you’re in the neighborhood and you want to have a go, you can probably guess my email address.
All Cillian O Brian design. I have a Cillian Scalloped hole chanter excatly the same as Dunne and Faden and Galloway . My chanter is great and from what Ive heard the others are great too.
I have a chanter with scalloped fingerholes by Jim Wenham, who learned from Cillian and Mickey Dunne. I’m very fond of it. Super comfortable and easy to hold; in fact, I’d assumed the scallops were about ergonomics until Jim said they’re actually for tuning. Alas, I was busy tearing up some cane at the time so didn’t hear the whole explanation, but I guess it has to do with bore dimensions, tonehole depth and the like?
For the sake of full disclosure: an accomplished Australian piper recently voiced the opinion that scallops on the chanter were a) “like wearing someone else’s undies” and b) “like having someone chew your food for you.”
Personally, I save a lot of time on chewing, and I feel safer knowing that someone’s test-driven my undies. What of it?
NB: To be perfectly clear, the scallops suit me fine at present. We were at the Australian National Folk Festival, it was 2am, the night was far from over, and as far as I could tell a good time was being had by all.
