I received my Hughes chanter yesterday, and I’m very pleased with the quality of handiwork, and even more thrilled with the sound quality. It’s a concert pitch chanter – african blackwood w/ brass and ivorite accents – with an extra F and C natural set of keys.
The sound is quite beautiful and rich with an emphasis on a slightly mellow timbre. It’s definitely softer than many D chanters I’ve heard, and the warmth of tone is quite endearing.
It plays quite effortlessly as far as bag pressure and is very efficient with the supply of air, I can stretch a very long trail of notes before I have to re-cache the bag.
I’m amazed I don’t hear of more Hughes chanters, they seem to be a best-kept secret. I know Robbie is very busy manufacturing GHB reeds these days, but I am very impressed with the chanter – Thanks Robbie!!!
Cheers,
PR
EDIT: FYI, he was perfectly on time with delivery - 5 months.
[ This Message was edited by: Paul Reid on 2002-06-04 13:15 ]
Paul,
Does Robbie Hughes have a website or would you have to contact him directly? How much was the chanter? Where does he live? Wait time? Does he make full sets and does he make flat sets?
Thanks for the info
Joseph
Probably best to contact Bob Gardiner, ruairibeag@rogers.com – he’d be able to get you in touch with Robbie Hughes, who doesn’t seem to have a website. I have emailed them regarding reeds info@bagpipers.co.uk
Robbie lives in Strangford, Co. Down, definitely makes full sets, and the information I have is that half sets take about 6 to 8 months, so I’d predict a full set to be about a year or so. Not sure about flat sets – a good question for Bob.
Paul,
thanks for the helpful info. I will try and get in contact both of them. Glad to hear that you really like your new chanter and that it is playing well.
Thanks again.
Joseph
Dave,
Thanks for you message. Right now, I am waitin for the rest of my concert pitch full set to be finnished. I have the practice set and have ordered the rest from the maker. Should be be here around next spring. However, I have thought about getting a C chanter in the future, and will definitely consider Hughes. I have heard pretty good things about him, and he lives in County Down which is where some dear frinds of mine live.
Thanks again
JOE
I have a Robbie Hughes half set and although I’m still pretty much a beginner I find them very good. Some of the more experienced pipers I have met have commented favourably on them. Robbie Hughes’ contact details (email and phone number) are at http://www.bagpipers.co.uk, although this web page seems to be purely for Highland Pipes,
Just had a great workshop with Martin Nolan on the weekend. He had a go with a Robbie Hughes chanter that was giving somebody else a bit of a problem. Martin had no issues with the chanter, he thought that the reed was a little hard, but it worked quite nicely. I have still had no problems with mine. I’m still very very pleased with the tone and responsiveness of the chanter. I must say that I have a chanter of Robbie’s only and cannot comment on drones and regulators.
By the way, Martin was brilliant during a performance on Friday night, and a very nice fellow to talk with too.
Okay the only disclaimer here is that I suck! But here you go - a Chris Langan tune “Summer’s Evening” This may be a little harsh sounding because of the microphone and my proximity to it et al, but I hope this is at least a fair example.
Okay, first of all, I’m the kind of guy who sets very high goals for himself, and since I’ve been playing for less than a year, I’m still in that mildly frustrated stage of inability to perform triplets in front of a microphone.
Anyway, the other reason is that I spent the afternoon with a brilliant piper named Debbie Quigley, and she’s just so good IMHO, that it made me realize how badly I suck (rather, how much more I have to learn)! But not all is lost in regards to my subtle ego, I am a perservering fellow and I shall never surrender!
Pick up the CD “The Humours of Piping.” It features four pipers from Northern Ireland. The first two players are playing “Hughes and Macleod” sets and the last is playing Hughes Drones and Regulators with a Roberts chanter. It’s a really good CD too. One of my favorite all-piping CDs.
James
All – Watch out for Paul if you have a small camera. He’s got enough camera gear and equipment to intimidate CNN.
Paul – If you want to get together with someone of equal experience on the pipes, send me a note (virgil.colby@sympatico.ca) and we can get together in TO.
Hiya,
Glad to hear you are so impressed with your new chanter. I am in the market for a new one myself and seeing as i have a set of pipes already, I don’t see any point in getting another set unless they are what i really want. Is your new chanter well in tune with itself? I don’t want to put it down and I’m definitely not, as I don’t even know what they are like. But, what’s the tuning like? Is the C# a bit flat by any chance? Are any notes consistently flat or sharp? Also, as somebody asked you (Joseph I think), how much was your chanter? They sound good in your description. Happy playing,
Mitchell
I can safely reply with a comparison. I had been in discussion with Debbie Quigley (who by the way is one of Canada’s finest pipers, and a truly wonderful person) and the two of us were playing our pipes together, when she commented that my chanter had quite a lovely tone. We quickly compared the notes from her exquisite DM Quinn chanter to my R. Hughes chanter and the tuning was incredibly similar. Robbie has been making pipes for several decades, so I figure he knows what he’s doing. I wouldn’t call his methods prolific, but certainly well crafted.
Frankly, I can’t remember how much I paid for the chanter - I had a bellows made by Joe Kennedy and the bag is from L&M. I’ll try to dig the price up for you. Actually, if you email me or PM to the C&F mesage, I can give you whatever info you desire. I can also supply you with Robbie’s North American distributor/friend’s, email address if you want.
I might add that there are finer chanters in the world, but Robbie does make quite a nice one. Also, I had some difficulties over the winter months (in Toronto area) with the reed. I have two reeds and I did a little experimentation. My tinkering did help considerably - all in very minor adjustments of course - and it plays really well. Chanter is definitley one part of the instrument - the reed is at least 50% of total importance to sound, IMO. I’m pretty sure that Robbie’s full time gig is producing GHB reeds - apparently he is quite well known from this, and having said that, his UP reeds are very nice!
I also think that my chanter may play a little on the loud side right now with my reed adjustments, but this may be because of my relative inexperience in comparisons between sets. It certainly didn’t sound loud compared to many sets at the Chris Langan weekend in Toronto or to Debbie’s Quinn concert pitch full set. Anyway, I’m very comfortable recommending Robbie Hughes’ chanters and until I get a nice Gallagher full set in C, it’ll do very well
