Someone recommended Koehler and Quinn. I couldn’t find much of anything about them on the web. Are they taking orders, or has their waiting list been put on hold?
Baen
You can see some of their work at Patrick D’Arcy’s Uilleann Pipes Obsession pages http://www.concentric.net/~pdarcy/page5/page5k.shtml
As far as I know, they’re not taking orders right now, but I would keep your eyes and ears out and open - you might find a piper selling something by them from time to time.
Aaron Welsh
They are not taking orders at the present time. They decided to close the wait list and get caught up some 4 years ago. I believe they still have a year or two of catching up to do but that is my estimation only. They have always been rather innovative. Occasionally, but quite rarely these days, a chanter that is the product of reseach and development and has proved exceptional will be brought to and offered for sale at a tionol. So, travel with your checkbook and keep your ears open.
Baen… Koehler and Quinn are held in the highest esteem, and at the top of the list without question. You can wait, of course, but you may also want to contact Kirk Lynch, who many consider also at the top of that list. I’ve had the pleasure of listening to 2 sets played recently, and they are indeed exceptional. My teacher plays a Lynch 1/2 set and I love it, and have ordered a set myself. His waiting period is about a year and a half.
elbogo,
I had heard that Kirk Lynch was very good from recent posts. I contacted him, and he said his waiting list was about 2 years. That’s shorter than Geoff Wooff, but still a bit long. Of course, the longer I wait, the longer the list gets!
Baen
In response to glands’s comment about K+Q’s closing their books about 4 years ago, I’ll add this:
By some stroke of dumb luck, I placed my order for a 3/4 set in B with K+Q a few months before they closed their books. I think that I placed my order back in April or May of 2000, and they are supposed to be finished with this set in 5-6 weeks. When I placed my order, I expected to wait 4 years for the set, but it appears that they’ll finish about 6 months ahead of schedule.
Does this mean that they’re close to the end of their list? I don’t know. You’d have to ask them. I imagine that they might have taken on restoration projects, R+D type projects, special requests from well-known pipers, etc., which might have added time to that schedule. I’m sure that if they were hurting for money, they would’ve opened their books by now.
Good advice, though, to travel with a check book, and when you see pipemakers at a tionol, it never hurts to ask.
My 2 cents,
Travis
You must be pretty excited. Congrats!
Baen, check your PMs… You have a private message!