I was told by a friend that Liam O’Flynn had a set of elder drone reeds made for his concert pipes, which he uses now, including on tours. His feeling being that, perhaps the elder is a bit quieter, but with the pipes miked up, who cares how quiet they are? It’s about getting the best sound possible.
Interesting if true. The person who told me this is a good friend of Jerry O’Sullivan’s - a source in the pipeline, as it were. Or on the grapevine. Pat Mitchell (in the preface of the Willie Clancy book) said the drones of Liam’s set were specially designed as “narrow bore,” whatever that meant in 1936.
Narrow bore drones? Kevin, do you need an explaination?
No, I’m just wondering what Rowsome’s idea of “narrow bore” was. That set always sounds well balanced anyway, nothing really out of the ordinary.
Dave Williams told me that O’Flynn has an elder reed in his bass drone only.
The biggest difference is probably in the bass drone. I played a wide bore style set by Crowley that had a bass drone like a fog-horn. I’d say that was a real candidate for an elder reed.
Ken