I would be grateful for any reviews of pipes by Joe Kennedy. Public or PM, doesn’t matter.
Thanks-
DJones
I had a Kennedy B chanter come through the store a while back. The thing was quite glorious to the ear and the workmanship was great.
I’m not remotely qualified to give a legitimate review but I will say that it’s one I’ve kicked myself for selling…didn’t have the dough to keep it at the time.
Doc
I live pretty close to Joe and have known him for years so I’ll pitch in.
Joe takes an artistic approach to pipe-making, making each instrument (in his words) a “work of art”. As such every set I’ve seen is different. He has really tried to adopt the practices of the old masters as much as he can.
A friend with one of his sets was here on the weekend. She had a wonky reed so I lent her one of mine. That reed worked better in Joe’s chanter than in my own! That being said, and having seen a lot of his work, I do believe that Joe makes great chanters. Very nice to look at, but more importantly they are designed to work!!!
On the downside Joe knows I DO NOT like his bag design. (I feel the necks are too thin and don’t give enough support to the chanter when playing.) He knows, he just goes with what he likes. Others like it too.
Overall from Joe you do get a great set of pipes. 
I have the B chanter that Doc had on his store.
It’s not a full Kennedy - the mounts and top were made by David Boisvert.
They match perfectly though.
I have a reed in it made by Makoto Nakatsui from over here in Japan and it sounds beautiful.
I recently got some drones in ebony/boxwood to match it from Steve Vickers in Ireland and the they really bring out the tone.
I have known a few people who have owned Kennedy sets and all were very satisfied.
Mukade
Wow, I am amazed at how far that chanter has made its rounds since I let it go.
It ain’t going no further.
Mukade
I am happy to hear it, it is a very nice stick. Did it come with the alternative “Captain Hook” swan neck?
I play an ebony B set from Joe after several recommendations from professional players who visit us here and play Kennedy´s sets.
EXCELLENT pipes and design. Sweet sound, perfectly balanced and tuned. Very responsive too. One of the great makers, no doubt here. But you have to know he has a looong waiting list now…
Go for a Kennedy set if you don´t mind to wait “a bit”.
8 years.
So order now - the recession will be over by the time the pipes are ready!!
No wait at all if you go for the set for sale on Uilleann Obsession!
…and there may be an older practice set in stock at a local GHB shop…
I play a full set in C made for me by Joe. I waited two years for the full set and a further three for the regs, but it was worth it. I’ve played a lot of other sets, including sets by Geoff Wooff and Timothy Kenna, but this set I have from Joe is the favourite. It has a lovely mellow sound and the chanter is amazingly expressive.
In fact, the set he made for me is a copy of the Kenna set in Ken McLeod’s collection, whose measurements you can get from the SRS journal. After I took delivery of it I compared it with the original by playing both of them one after another. See photos at
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/musicfiles/photos/bothpipes1.jpeg
and
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/musicfiles/photos/bothpipes2.jpeg
The repro plays better than the original Kenna instrument. The only visible difference (apart from irrelevant details such as the length of the blowpipe) is that the original has a key for 3rd octave E while the Kennedy version has a chanter stop key there instead. Joe will happily put the E key there for you if you want; the reason for the stop key is because he puts some plastic pipe inside the goose neck to keep it from kinking, so you can’t stop the chanter by just wringing the neck as you do in the historic sets. Anyway, that’s a detail.
It’s a wonderful set, and truly a work of art
Ross Anderson
http://www.piob.info
