Hello all. I’m new to this forum and untested in the realm of piping. I’ve admired Uilleann Pipes since I can remember and I am finally looking to actually buy a good beginner set. I made the mistake of buying a set of Paki highland pipes a while back and have kicked myself for it ever since. I have researched numerous pipe makers but can’t settle on one definitively. I’ve perused this forum and am hoping that I’m not resurrecting a dead horse with this topic… If I am, I apologize in advance.
I am an officer in the US Army, deployed to Iraq for the foreseeable future… (at least 8 more months) and would like to get a jump on this amazing instrument. I’ve gotten fairly proficient with my tin whistles and feel like I’m ready to move on to something bigger. I’m looking to spend no less than $800 on a set of practice pipes. I just need a direction to go in. In the past I’ve tried to contact David Daye, but he never replied to any of my emails. A recent find that has peaked my interest is BC Childress’ practice set with one drone. I haven’t really seen many reviews of BC pipes. This is a big investment and I’d appreciate some guidance from the knowledge base on this forum.
To avoid the wait times, consider taking a look at the classified section of Uilleann Obsession. I haven’t looked at it recently but their is usually a practice set or two on there.
I have not been at this very long, but knowing what I do now I would have bought a better chanter (Practice set) from the beginning.
Or better still a 1/2 set and remove the drones until you need them.
My music teacher has a BC Childress set and they sound great.
I recently picked up a Neil O Grady 1/2 set which sounds good and was not a lot of money.
If you are in a very dry climate like Iraq, you might consider David Daye’s Penny Chanter practice set to get started. It is very stable, being made of brass and pvc, and he has developed an excellent dry climate reed. Aesthtics aside, it sounds as good as many more expensive chanters.
I would also recommend continuing to try and get a hold of David Daye he posts his phone number on his website and he’s answered every time I’ve tried to call him, so I’ve personally had great experiences getting a hold of him. additionally I have seen numerous sets of his chanters both premade and assembled and they are consistantly of a high quality and great tone. it puts you on solid footing for having an instrument that you know will sound the way it’s suppose to when it comes out of the box, and his documentation that comes with it and rushes make it easy to adjust if need be… just my thoughts.