Does anyone have any experience playing a narrow bore D set of pipes. Im after a Compare and Contrast to Concert Pitch D. Some Questions I have are:
Will they hold up in sessions or will the get over powered with 3 or more musicians?
Does Narrow Bore have the same characteristics of a concert pitch chanter as far as schrillness, tone, ect.
Is narrow bore more like playing a flat set pitched in D (if that makes sense) as far as easier on the ears, volume, more forgiving?
Why Narrow Bore over concert Pitch?
Could I play my Concert D chanter with the drones and regs of a narrow bore set to get more volume or is the air requirements for the two completely different?
Well, you couldn’t go wrong with a Geoff Woofe set. The one I played from him was quite nice, but had a reed that hadn’t liked Canada too well, I think. It was a little too quiet and muffled feeling, but that would change with the reed.
Joe Kennedy has made two nice narrow bore sticks (prototypes, both of them) one of them a copy of the infamous Taylor narrow bore and one a copy of Ronan Browne’s Kenna chanter. Both were fantastic, but different from each other. Both were definitely loud enough to play with others, but again it would depend. I think the Kenna copy might actually work better than some concert sets, not due to volume, but because the tone was nasaly-er ( ) and would cut through a bit more. Perhaps. The Taylor copy felt like a B chanter, it was very nice and flat feeling. I’d say that sweeter is the right term for both. If you haven’t got a lead on a used GW set and you haven’t been on his waiting list for years, then you might want to talk to Joe about a narrow bore chanter. Bill Haneman is also making copies of that same Taylor chanter (and the Kenna too Bill?) so he’s another good choice. Of course Joe is closer to your climate.
I think that my Kirk Lynch chanter has some flat chanter characteristics. It is, I believe, a more narrow bore than typical concert chanters and the deep chimney height probably has a lot to do with the flat-pitch characteristics I mentioned. IMO the reed determines a lot of the volume/harshness factors of the sound than anything else. I’ve had both harsh reeds and very mellow reeds in the same chanter.
I play a Brad Angus narrow bore D chanter. It has beautiful tone, but is quiet. It works great for playing at home, which is where most of my playing happens. If you are looking for a “session” instrument, this one isn’t what you want. When I play together with another piper playing a Gallagher concert set, I can’t hear my chanter. But as I said, my chanter is well made, plays in tune, and has a beautiful, “warm/sweet” tone.
My experiences are with Daye and Stephenson concert AND narrow bore D chanters.
Will they hold up in sessions or will the get over powered with 3 or more musicians?
In my experience, not well. They are easily overpowered.
Does Narrow Bore have the same characteristics of a concert pitch chanter as far as schrillness, tone, ect.
No, it tends to sound sweeter, rounder, less harsh and loud.
Is narrow bore more like playing a flat set pitched in D (if that makes sense) as far as easier on the ears, volume, more forgiving?
It depends on the instrument. They do behave differently. Definitely easier on the ears. I don’t know about more forgiving. Maybe. They need less air.
Why Narrow Bore over concert Pitch?
A more pleasing, less strident tone, given a good reed… at least to my ear. A (bad) analogy might be a violin and a violin played with a mute. Both are pleasing, but sound very different, and differnt ears will have different preferences. One has more overtones and volume, perhaps closer to a square wave, and the other has less overtones and volume.
Could I play my Concert D chanter with the drones and regs of a narrow bore set to get more volume or is the air requirements for the two completely different?
Drones might seem unbalanced, but should go. I’d expect trouble with the regs, depending on your instrument. No way to really know other than try. Not optimal and YMMV.
The Daye Apartment chanter is a good way to get into it for a reasonable price. It is a very nice instrument despite being made of brass and plastic.
This is why I asked which maker you have in mind. It’s really pointless to try to generalize about narrow bore D chanters unless you know the design / maker in mind. Daye, Stephenson, Lynch… these are all very, very different from Woofe, Haneman or Kennedy narrow bore Ds, I think.
Just to say that I have two wide bore chanters in D and as regards loudness and tonal qualities such as sweetness, shrillness, warmth well just by adjusting the chanter reed a wide range of sounds and volume can be achieved. One Williams chanter is now playing very loud, yet sweet and with a strong hard D, very responsive and very light/easy to blow, after I spent a weekend carefully adjusting the reed. It holds it’s own in sessions with boxes & banjos whereas before, with the same reed, it was too quiet to play in a session. The other chanter is easy to play, responsive, sweet sounding and much quieter, yet still loud enough for a session and quiet enough to play at home in an apartment. Even a wide bore can be very quiet depending on how you set up your reed. It’s up to you really. I was surprised once when playing next to Gay McKeon how quiet and sweet his wide bore O’Briain set was. Good luck in your quest
You can play narrow bore D and concert D chanters on the same set of drones, but you will have to tune the drones to either chanter, as each chanter plays at different pitches of D, a concert D chanter can play at a sweet low volume if the reed is adjusted correctly, I don’t think a narrow bore D chanter is going to be your best instrument for session playing, the fiddle might be an instrument that could play a long side a narrow bore D chanter can’t think of another, a concert D chanter made from boxwood / Holly or fruitwoods sound sweet and mellow might be worth thinking about if your finding some concert D chanters to loud and strident. all the best.
) and would cut through a bit more. Perhaps. The Taylor copy felt like a B chanter, it was very nice and flat feeling. I’d say that sweeter is the right term for both. If you haven’t got a lead on a used GW set and you haven’t been on his waiting list for years, then you might want to talk to Joe about a narrow bore chanter. Bill Haneman is also making copies of that same Taylor chanter (and the Kenna too Bill?) so he’s another good choice. Of course Joe is closer to your climate.
I don’t think a narrow bore D chanter is going to be your best instrument for session playing, 
the fiddle might be an instrument that could play a long side a narrow bore D chanter can’t think of another, a concert D chanter made from boxwood / Holly or fruitwoods sound sweet and mellow might be worth thinking about if your finding some concert D chanters to loud and strident. all the best.