I do seem to recall, unless I’m mistaken, that McSherry had a Williams set? Did a search, yet couldn’t find anything. Anyone know?
I happen to really like the sound of his 2nd octave, very distinctive.
I was just listening to the clip of the double chanter set…
Jeff
I know John owns a Sean McAloon half-set. Dont know if thats the one you heard.
its a McAloon chanter with a Williams set attached to it.
On many recordings [and when I’ve seen him live] he just plays the chanter [brilliantly]
On Tripswitch he plays the drones and regs at times too…
click on " At First Light_Towersey_05c " [either “view” or “save” ]
on this page
http://www.kerrywhistles.com/dl.php?group=13
to hear and see the chanter…made from a different wood to the set its plugged into
Cheers
Boyd
hi elbogo
Martin Preshaw chanter.
hi there boyd, i’ve still got those recordings of McSherry Keenan Rooney etc I offered you from the Johnny Doran Millennium weekend, is it really six years ago?
yours unregulated
I recall watching one of the movies on the ‘Kerrywhistles’ website, in which John is being interviewed and talks about his chanter. I can’t remember if the maker’s name was actually mentioned.
I agree - his chanter has a great sound. You’ll have to have some pretty fast vibrato fingers to emulate his sound though! 
John Mc sherry plays a mcaloon chanter not a Preshaw one.
Ballygo
Ballygo’s right. It’s a chanter made be the late Sean McAloon, originally from Fermanagh but who lived in Belfast for a long time until a few years back. As far as I know McAloon made it for him and he’s had it over twenty years.
This question came up before.
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=25082&highlight=john++sherry.
Cheers
Ferg
hi all
Meant to put a ? after Pershaw, he was looking for a new one and someone mentioned he had been seen playing a black stick ??
I’ll go with the Sean McAloon as Fergus points out in
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=25082&highlight=john++sherry
yours unregulated
If he was seen playing a black wood chanter , I guess it would be his Dave williams chanter that came with the set.
Ballygo
He does have a relationship with Martin Preshaw though. My old Preshaw chanter used to belong to John - www.unionpipes.co.uk
Patrick.
The liner notes for “Tripswitch” [CD released this year] include notes on John and Donal’s instruments:
Williams set with a McAloon chanter is what it says
John plays a sean mc aloon persian boxwood chanter with williams drone, regulators made from african blackwood and brass. The bellows are also williams. The bag he is one that he made himself. A " double skin synthetic bag.This is much the same as the type that paddy keenan, davy spilane, finbar furey and francis mc ilduff use. This has been preferred by many pipers of late becase of what is termed " assisted playing pressure"
Basically this is caused by the fact that there is a slight stretch in the synthetic bag (as this “degree of stretch” retracts the action has the affect of adding to the playing pressure, hence the term) whereas the classic hide bags tend to be “stretchless” affording no APP.
However what it fails to mention on the sleeve notes of the “tripswith” album is that the williams bass drone that came with the set has been replaced with the bass drone of his original mc aloon half set.
John made this change as he felt the william bass drone did not have the “kick” that he desires.
Hope this helps
Paddy
All in all, it is a very nice sounding chanter. I wonder how many chanters McAloon made? Anyone know who else has one?
Jeff
Thanks P O’Hare for the info.
How come you know so much??
By the way Mr McSherry et al are in The Cobblestone in Dublin tomorrow night and in the markethouse in Monaghan tomorrow night if anyone would like to check out what gear he is currently using. http://www.atfirstlight.net/tourdates.html
J
John plays a sean mc aloon persian boxwood chanter
He does have a relationship with Martin Preshaw though. My old Preshaw chanter used to belong to John
There is also another connection. The McAloon chanter was a copy of the same Leo Rowsome chanter that Martin used as his template for many years.
Now I wonder where that Leo chanter is now… 
Tommy
… no, you don’t. 