Has anyone made a set of working pipes from the Ginsberg C Egan plans. I have a Michael Egan chanter that I can copy but I’d like accurate drone and reg measurments. Cheers, Seth Hamon
Doogie, you mention “the Ginsberg C Egan plans”, which leads me to conclude that Ginsberg must have published those plans and that they are more or less generally available. Would that be the case?
Yes. NPU don’t seem to be stocking them anymore though (just had a quick browse around the webshop)
We discussed those blueprints here around a decade ago, and maybe even before then on the UILLEANN-L mailing list.
Thanks, guys. 
I ran across them on the NPU webpage so it seems that they still carry them. I’ve read previous threads but none seem to address whether anyone has made a working set from the plans. I’m guessing since its been a decade since it was last discussed that maybe someone may have attempted the plans. The NPU has a Rowsome set in C in the Source and the Sean Reid has the Kenna set close to modern C which has been copied with varying results. I’m more curious about the Ginsberg plans than actually wanting to attempt them as the lack of data points worries me a bit. I’ll probably go with the Kenna plans as measured by McLeod but that has yet to be decided. Thanks for the replies, Seth
The chanter was tampered with, so head’s up there. Brad Angus’s first two full sets were after Ginzegan, the first he made for himself and subsequently turned into a lamp…#2 I got in trade, for a wood lathe and some other toolery I bought when I fancied the notion of making pipes myself. The chanter had a bad hard D and was too loud all told. A few years back I supplied piping for a trio of plays by Yeats, playing off stage; I loaned the Egan copy to one of the actors to use as a prop. That’s about all they’re good for.
I recall hearing about some pipemakers persisting in using the design anyway. The bore designs are simplified - Egan didn’t ream out simple cones, although that’s what you ended up with after sticking a reamer into the bore. If you just want to mate your old chanter to something that drones and regulates then it’ll get you going, but the Kenna/McLeod stuff was actually measured carefully and is intact, by and large; plus you can download them for free. They sound gorgeous, well the original anyway. People talking about having no luck with them on here are probably hobbyists whose word on these matters should be taken with a grain of salt, or two, or six.
Thank a lot I really appreciate the reply. That’s why I ask because I don’t want to waste my time with unproven plans. Your right, one buddy of mine from Scotland is a newer amateur maker who had trouble reeding the Kenna chanter in Volume 2 after he made it. On the other hand Joe Kennedy made a copy of it and I hear it is grand. I do believe I’ll look more closely at Ken’s 1825 Kenna plans in Volume 2. I would also like to measure this old Boxwood chanter I have from the estate and compare them with the specs from Ken’s Kenna. Thanks Again and I’ll post more as I start prototyping, reamer building, or whatever I do. Seth
For what its worth. If you start looking at Kenna’s work, don’t just go by Ken McLeod’s measurements, but look very closely at the measurements taken from the putative Mealy reamers discussed in volume 3. The Mealy family had a close connection to the Kennas, and at least one Kenna full set, thoroughly studied by R.L. Mealy, has passed through four generations of the extended Mealy family. Those reamers will be as much a reliable “benchmark”, being steel, as your aluminum chanter will be in addressing what the Taylor’s were about.
While Mealy may have strayed from the ‘pure drop’ of Kenna’s work somewhat, I would trust his informed judgement much more than the product of someone ‘going at’ an old and seemingly unreedable chanter with a rat-tail file. . .Wood changes enough without being diddled with. . .those tools and their measurement are pure gold.
Bob
Tom Clarke plays a set of made by Alan Ginsberg (Egan copy) using a snakewood chanter by Andreas Rogge
Cheers
Ferg
Kevin, Do you know if there are any recordings of the Kenna/McLeod C pipes in the public domain? It would be nice if there were recordings available of all the surviving historic sets.
There was a recording of the drones anyway, with Ken taking his hand on and off the stock, and you could hear the tone change. Helluva tone, too. That was on the SRS website I think. Or on the CD-ROM. Ken was very forthright with the opinion that the bass regulator dampens the sound a titch, although for me that’s an acceptable tradeoff, if that’s what it is. Ennis, Reck, R Browne, these seem to have pretty nice sounding drones, ya know?
For that matter you may have good luck with this Egan chanter, but IIRC the throat is 3/16", that means hosed - it’s the sort of diameter you get in wide bore concert pitch, meaning you’ll need a bit more harder reed for the hard D to speak. It’s been ages but I believe the small regs also had jumbo size throats too. But again, why pay $$$$ for dubious blueprints when you can have at ones of great pipes for free?
The Kenna set in SRS V2 has the chanter and bar reg throat at 3.8mm and the tenor reg at 3.75mm or are you referring to the Ginsberg plans?
The Ginsberger. Forget what 3/16" is in mm, 5.5 or something train tunnel ish like that.
4.75-80-ish so pretty well a full millimetre-ish over the SRS Kenna - enough to make a considerable difference.
The Mealy family set of Kenna pipes is currently in the custody of Jonathon Farrar. Volume III has some mp3’s of this set being played by various people, among them Wilbert Garvin. This is the set that R.L (Richard, the pipemaker) had to relinquish to his brother Ned. . .but apparently not until he had thoroughly studied them, and was confident in being able to make a faithful copy. The ‘D’ section reamer found in R.L.'s toolbox goes down to a very wiggly 2.8 or smaller mm. diameter. . .!
Bob
Had a week of piping tuition at Willie Week 1998 with master piper Pat Mitchell. Pat had the Kenna then,that Ken has now and it sounded fine, Nick Adams had reeded the set and it had a horrendous turquiose!!! leather bag. Wait a minute are you talking about the Bray Kenna that Johnny Doran used to borrow?
If you start looking at Kenna’s work, don’t just go by Ken McLeod’s measurements, but look very closely at the measurements taken from the putative Mealy reamers discussed
But at the same time, do remember that all the classic makers (as far as I know) adjusted the bore in places after reaming. The reamer alone will not necessarily give you a reliable bore profile of a finished chanter..
Yes That’s the art, innit?
Bob
I need to get in touch with Joe Kennedy as he has copied this set and from what I’ve heard it came out quite well. Richard Evans has also copied the chanter from these plans and is in the process of trying to reed the chanter. Bob Salter from Scotland also made his own attempt at this chanter following Ken’s specs and he had success as well. So it appears that the Kenna specs in Vol.2 are reliable to say the least. I’m not sure if they have a min/max as I haven’t looked at them in a while so I can’t say if Joe/Evans/Salter may have interpreted the reamers differently between the different specs due to ovality. I’m measuring the possible Kenna that I have right now and the difference between the min/max for each probe is approx 3mm so far. I’m down to 1/4" so I have a good 20 more probes to go. The throat was 5/32" by the way. Seth