Anyone have any experience with O’Grady pipes? If you want to send me a PM with pros/cons experience that would be great. I am seriously considering buying a second hand set and wanted a little more info…
Also, does the maker have a website? I couldn’t find one on the interweb…
Matt
Website:
Thanks a bunch PJ! I’ve received a few PMs so far and its been helpful, but please keep them coming if anyone else has experience.
Cheers!
Matt
I can’t really comment of their sound but the aesthetic, well… ummmm… not to my taste… to be diplomatic.
I don’t care about the aesthetics as I have had a half set of CJ Dixon pipes on order since 2008. These pipes would be to keep my fingers busy until the set I really want is ready. But yes, I’ve heard (and seen) that they might be a little rough around the edges, but I’ve received several positive comments about the tone and pitch of the chanter. That’s very encouraging!
Matt
Matt,
I own a Neil O’grady chanter/full set. Take a look at this previous post from years back. It might help you get some more info.
[https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/back-ds-on-neill-ogrady-pipes/16874/1)
Also, I modified, reeded, and sold a separate NO chanter last year. Here is the post along with pictures and sound samples.
[https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/fs-neil-ogrady-cocobolo-chanter-and-or-bag-bellows/67423/1)
My own opinion of NO chanters is relatively unchanged. They can sound very good with the right reed. (I’m fortunate to make my own reeds). So you could say, I like the bore on Neil’s chanters and think they are ok looking once themounts and thumb rest are modified.
hope this helps
Joseph
In my experience reeding and playing a handful of Neil’s chanters, I find their tone equal to most other chanters I have played… which is a considerable number thanks to reed making.
In other words, absolutely nothing wrong with their tone and playability.
If you’d turn up at a SoCal Uilleann Pipers Club meeting, you could see Joseph’s (Sampson) set, not too mention a wide array of pipes by variety of makes.
Posts and PMs are all well and good, but seeing, hearing and playing will give you the answers you seek.
No E
… such a wise fellow you are. 
Well, I can report that of the seven separate PMs I received that all the comments were positive with regard to the sound, pitch, etc. I never want people to badmouth makers on this board, doing so in private is another issue. I’ve seen moderators shut down threads pretty fast if people go nuts. So I thought making sure I was right in my thought process on a brand I knew nothing about by asking for private comments was the way to go! 
I’d love to attend one of those meetups at some point. I’ve been invited a couple of times but have been too busy to go. Are they monthly? Is it the one in San Juan/San Clemente?
Matt
Second Sunday of every month:
Hopefully see you there some time,
Patrick.
Thanks Patrick! I hope to be there too… 
Matt
I’d like to share my opinion about O’Gradys pipes too.
Two months ago I bought a second hand Grady chanter from Ebay for 450$. I got them very quick but the two reeds that came with it didn’t do it. As the pound was low I bought a Brian Howard reed like a year ago and this seemed to fit the chanter better. But since I’m not a reed maker or an experienced player at all I decided to let Tom Aebi having a look at it.
So I visited Tom in his shop two weeks ago and he had a look at it. The two reeds weren’t good so he took the Howard reed which he considered a good reed and made it fitting the chanter. He had to make the back D hole bigger and modify the reed but after 1 1/2 hours, the chanter played great and we didn’t even have to put wax in the holes. He had a self-made reed that fitted the chanter well too, so reeding it seems easily possible.
I don’t know how the condition of the reed/chanter is when you buy directly from Neil O’Grady but having an experienced piper and reed maker look at it was necessary for me after buying a chanter second hand. Now I have a nice chanter, fully keyed with a good sound for not much money. Sure, its no high quality work like Tom Aebis own chanters but it still is a nice chanter for a non-proffesional player.
A picture:
I’ll upload something on youtube soon.
How common is it for a maker to alter the product of another maker like that? I’ve always heard that it was completely off-limits to do that (unless, of course, the original maker gives the second on permission to do so).
Hm, if it wasn’t Tom Aebi, I don’t know if I would have allowed another maker to alter the chanter. But there seem to be only a few pipemakers who understand the pipes and pipemaking like Tom Aebi does. So he had my trust.
Altering a maker’s work is not generally done. Most makers would probably be happy to fix any problems which didn’t result from deliberate tampering. So my view is that if you have problems, go back to the maker.
However, there can be good reasons why another maker might take on the work. Maybe the original maker is no longer active or has too long a waiting list.