I found the photo at www.uilleannobsession.com.
A friend of mine would like to buy a full set and asked me to help.
Which reputable pipe maker can make this style of regulator keywork?
However, he’d prefer the body of the regulator made out of wood.
All the Best and Thank You, Miki
Cillian O’Briain from An Daingean (formerly Dingle), Co. Kerry is the maker.
The good people of Kerry have defied the red tape and seen fit to hand paint over the blanked out signposts for Dingle, so Dingle like a pheonix has risen out of the ashes …ah too much (i,d like to say guinness )carlsburg again!!!
RORY
That’s an O’Briain set. Cillian described that style of regulator keywork, which he developed, in a past issue of Iris na bPiobairi/The Pipers’ Review.
I believe that only Cillian is currently making that style of keywork, but perhaps one of the makers who are modeling their sets after Cillian (Dunne or Galloway, for instance) is planning to offer this style as well.
The metal cladding on the outside of the regulators is part of that style of keywork, and might be necessary. However the regulator bores are wooden on the inside.
regards
Bill
Hi billh
According to the the two members of the Glasgow Pipers Club with Galloway half sets, who are impatiently waiting to get regs, the regs are under development but not yet available for sale.
David
As of about a year ago, Mickey Dunne was also not making regs yet, so it seems the answer may be “this item is not currently available”.
Sorry Miki
What’s Cillian’s lead time for full sets, or is he even taking orders? Also, I saw that the set offered on uilleannobsession in 2004 had an asking price of 12,000 euros. Are his sets making this price or was there something particular about the set for sale (made from 24 kt gold, for instance).
roryb - the “An Daingean” Penninsula just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Now, I’m off to practice the An Daingean Regata.
If An Daingean doesn’t quite suit you, you could always call it Daingean Uí Chuis…
If Cillian is not currently taking orders then try David Quinn (USA) or Chris Bayley (UK) as they also make sets based on the Taylors and utilise ribbon style keywork.
I see from another photo of a Cillian O’Brien set that he uses screws to fix the plates that hold the keys on his wooden bodied Bass regulator. I wonder if this is as good as or better than the Taylors method of rivets. Is it his invention or have other makers tried it.
John
All I know is that Cillian tried his regulator design with boxwood a couple of times when he first started doing the “neo-Taylor” thing close to ten years back or so and things got seriously funky…Since them, I know he’s worked with blackwood, ebony, and holly for the wood bodies of the regulators, but that’s it. It may look pretty cool, but the idea of encasing wood in that much metal seems like it might be problematic in the seriously long run…
But golly, they do look cool though. I inquired about ordering a couple of regulators from Cillian for my half set over a year back, but I’m only armed with American dollars, not real money…
Perhaps Monopoly Money might work. 
Cillian’s left the craft center in Dingle where he had his workshop until recently, and moved his workshop to Ballyferriter last I heard, and I could very well be mistaken, but I think he only makes chanters these days
Could anyone post a link to a photo of how does this “Taylor ribbon style” look? The picture I posted above was just a guideline what kind of regulator keywork would make my friend (and his father, who gives the real money for the set) happy.
Miki
While it has been determined this set is not a Taylor, it is a fine copy of their work. This set is owned by Sean Folsom.
This set (the chanter is O’Briain) is a Taylor, and is owned by Billy MacCormack (sp?)
The piper in this photo is not Billy…
I think some of you are missing an important difference between the pictured O’Briain regs and Taylor-style regs. The top ends of the O’Briain reg keys are arched. With this design you can play a note on a reg, then slide your hand to the right -without lifting up- and play the note below. All other reg key designs I am familiar with - including Tayor - require that you lift your hand off the key in order to be able to bring it down onto the key below.
Nick Whitmer
Thanks to Nick - someone is paying attention to the details.
Here are two photo essays by DMQuinn showing some examples of Taylor regulators and Quinn/Koehler regulators, and some of the tools and steps involved in their manufacture:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2123268423
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2120078110
The first album above also shows some similar “Tayloresque” designs by White, Brennan, and Hamilton.
Here’s a picture of David’s recent work - truly beautiful. Possibly heresy but I think it looks better than the original Taylor work (gasp!)…
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid159/p67e7efb9e9363a356add3858c7f063a3/f4f3d02d.jpg
All of the above designs are quite different from the O’Briain design, though there are a few points of similarity. The O’Briain design involves less exposed wood, but also less dovetailing and precision fitting of plates when compared to the Taylor work.
One thing the O’Briain and Taylor designs have in common is that both appear to be a lot of work! 
Bill
I think Cillian’s work is absolutely amazing!!! 
I’ve always wanted to get a full set of his, but if he’s not taking orders, that could be hard. 
Can anyone confirm that for sure?
I can’t attest to how accurate any of this is, but last I heard through the grapevine, he was hoping to begin transitioning out of the pipemaking biz…God only knows why anyone could give up something as thrilling as pipemaking! This may perhaps explain in part why he has taken a fairly laissez-faire approach to a number of new-ish makers borrowing aspects of his design…He’s still likely got several years of backlogged orders to plough through, though.
His full sets had been going for somewhere around 9,000 euros, I think, but that was several years ago.
The only way to know for sure what Cillian is or is not taking orders for would be to contact him directly. If it’s a full set you’re after, I’m guessing he’d likely advise you to contact another maker.
Interestingly enough, though he’s a first-rate player, Cillian’s not all that big on regulators himself–he finds them more of a distraction than an asset, I think. When I knew him in Dingle, he was playing on a rather plain, kinda roughed-up half set and he also appears to play this (or another half set very similar to it) on the Geantraí episode from a while back.
It is not unheard of for some of the world’s most-famous working pipemakers to sell their cherished personal sets to put food on the family. I don’t know if this is Cillian’s situation, but in his line of work it would not surprise me.
t