I would like to know how many Concert sets are out there with narrow bore Regulators. I read somewhere that Pete Hunter used this idea in his sets and David Stephenson also. Is there any other makers? But how this idea works? Isn’t there any problems becouse of different air needs for wide bore drones & chanter and narrow bore regs ect.? But I gues you can adjust regulator reeds to higher air pressure? Any thoughts, or better experiences … What will be positive and what negative results if you have set with such regs?
I have not heard of narrow bore compared to wide bore regulators. At least not as an option you could choose when you order regs. But many times I have seen regulators which have narrower bores than the chanter they are intended to play with. The contrast is easiest to compare between the bari reg & the chanter, since the lowest note on both is the same.
Most players want the regs to sound quieter & mellower than the chanter, and comparatively narrow bores help accomplish this. Then the reeds must be set up to play well with the bag pressures the chanter requires, usually not an impossible task.
I recall reading that when Sean Reid commissioned Leo Rowsome to make his best set (the set now played by Liam O’Flynn), that he specified narrow bore drones.
Chris Bayley also makes narrower bore regs, based on the Taylor’s work. He makes the throat smaller, doesn’t push the reamer in as far as normal, then opens up the bell.
