Looking at coming to piping as an anglo-concertina player, I already fully understand the concept of starting out with the best you can afford, and know too well the frustration associated with starting on a budget instrument only to quickly upgrade.
Which brings me to this. My local buy and sell has a Practice set by McNulty Hunter. The asking price way be a bit ambitious for the seller, maybe 3x the price of the cheap advertised Practice sets.
My reading has led me to believe that McNulty was pretty good in their day, but that they have a tendency to be more finicky for reeds than a more modern instrument.
At $1500CAD, would you consider this a fair starting point, or is the same money better spent on a more modern practice set?
One solid recommendation for anyone starting out is to get pipes from someone close by. Not always feasible and not always the best idea, but the argument for having easy access to the person most likely to be able to make your pipes work well and who understand the environment your pipes will live in is a good one. Get a good reed and you really shouldn’t need to touch it. Ever.
I don’t have any first hand knowledge of McNulty’s work so can’t comment there but if you are in Canada (local pricing in CAD?) I would strongly recommend Joe Kennedy in Ontario. He can accommodate variable budgets and his work is really solid. He knows how to make reeds that will work in Canada which is not easy. I have played stuff by him for years here in Winnipeg and it does really well through the big humidity swings across seasons.
Joe Kennedy is probably your best option. A no name cheap practice set is asking for trouble and while the price of the McNulty (I had to run currency conversion to get a perspective) is not extreme, it is also an unknown quantity. You may be dealing, and have to spend on, reeding, perhaps leaky bag, valves, bellows etc. Or perhaps not but there’s no way of telling from your post.
Thanks for the replies.
I suppose that for a little added context, the seller says that although they know little about the Mcnulty Hunter set, they had them tested by a highland pipe friend who reported that the bellows and bag work as they should, and that the reed seems to make the expected sounds. As I am yet to see the pipes to confirm any of that, I’m using that as my baseline for now.
I’m visiting away right now, which is where the pipes are, but actually live in a remote part of the Yukon Territory of Canada, so the sound advice to buy from a local maker is unfortunately not an option for me.
I’ll just plan to meet with the seller and test to the best of my ability, and it sounds like maybe the reality may be closer to “a bird in the hand” or “beauty is in the eye” situation.
The first regulators I had were McNulty, they worked, but were very odd in appearance. I seem to remember reading that his chanters and drones functioned well, for the time - he was making pipes around 45 years ago, mind. I only paid $400 for those regs - in the 90s. I’d only shell out maybe $1k for a practice set.
I’d go to Kennedy or the like - if you want to visit them in person it’s going to mean grabbing a plane, yes? The Yukon is out of the way enough, but a remote part…! I actually think Brad Angus in Vancouver WA is closer to you; the pipemaker in Japan might be just as close as Kennedy…!
