Hi!
Looking for your opinions.
I’m about to order a practice set, but from where / from whom?
I’d love to hear opinions from people, who have recently bought their practice sets.
-S-
Try to find something from a maker who is close to home.
http://www.uilleann.nl/ could be a valuable contact in your case.
There are several good makers…my 2 cents:
DM Quinn
Seth Gallagher
Alain Froment
Geoff Wooff
Kirk Lynch
and I’m sure others will have some input.
Hi! reagrding a first pipe, you may want to try a polyacetyl (precision machined) practice set from Andreas Rogge of Germany. It is quite easy to play (in other words it sounds really seriously good most of the time) and is quite affordable. I love mine. The only downside is that it is not upgradeable later as it is only intended as a practice set. The price, however, makes up for that. If you ask around I promise that you will find that This is really a fine instrument and well worth the money. (PLUS NO WAIT!) Anyway- good luck and good piping!
On 2002-05-24 18:57, Dave Parkhurst wrote:
There are several good makers…my 2 cents:
DM Quinn
Seth Gallagher
Alain Froment
Geoff Wooff
Kirk Lynch
and I’m sure others will have some input.
Dave… be nice to the guy. He asked for help.
Scéalta,
the polyacetyl (Delrin) practice set Paul mentioned (from Andreas Rogge) can be seen at: http://www.uilleann-pipes.de/
Other pipemakers who usually have a short waiting list are:
Ray Sloan:
http://www.ray-sloan.com/index.html
Martin Preshaw
http://www.unionpipes.co.uk/
Davy Stephenson
http://www.bagpipeworks.com/
Thank you already for all the replies.
Any opinions on humidity issues?
I know the winter time is dry here in Finland, so any difficulties keeping the instrument playable? My friend got himself a Desi Seery flute made out of Delrin, because he’s afraid that a wooden flute will crack up in a couple of years. Is this just overreacting?
-S-
No he isn’t You can forget about playing up there in winter time unless you keep a kettle on the boil in your home throughout the day and sit next to it while playing.
I have a Davy Stephenson practice set that I am very happy with.
My reeds hated the winter here in midwest USA, I had to play with a humidifier next to me.
Jeff
Whole-house humidifiers are nice too if you can afford them. Otherwise a room humidifier works wonders, especially with the door to the room you’ll play in closed and the humidifier priming it for a few hours.
Dionys
Hi You all
It is true that reeds are sometimes a problem here in Finland, but since I got
my new chanter with a new reed of course and it was blown in and just a litle bit sanded and so on it has worked ok in january
as it did on last saturday.
But all the reeds are individual ( as are chanters too ). other people have different experience and so will you when and if you start this long road.
Esko
Tony,
Hey, I was being nice! Those are all makers that I’ve played and respect. Are they inexpensive? no Is there a wait? Yes. But I’m glad you added Rogge…he is a great guy about service.
Dave… understood. But, most of those guys have waiting lists of over 2 years. This is most distressing for someone eager to buy his first set of pipes.
I can heartily recommend Ray Sloan’s work! I ordered my first practice set from him and had them in hand in about 2 months. Excellent work and a really great reed for Southern California.
I would also suggest getting on a waiting list of another maker (meaning years of waiting) if you ever want to get a full set. Sloan doesn’t offer those.
John,
Ray Sloan’s website has been updated and he claims to have been working on regulators nearly four years. As a result, Sloan may soon take orders on full sets.
I would recommend Davy Stephenson. I’ve never heard a negative word about his work. He is a very professional and supportive businessman with a pretty short waiting list. He usually has a few items on the shelf waiting for an owner. His prices reflect the current market. They’re not exactly inexpensive, but neither are they expensive. I think they are priced middle to middle high…
CL
Tony,
Interesting about our Dear Mr. Sloan. I asked him very directly about regs not six months ago, and he mentioned “he had no time to work on designing them”…and that he’d “only offer practice and half sets for the forseeable future.”
I ordered my full set from Seth Gallagher due to the fact that Ray wouldn’t make a full set. I never expected to play the regs with a huge amount of proficiency mind you, but I was turned off by his answer. Seemed to me that if he wasn’t interested in making a full set, the amount of effort put into his other sets might be questionable.
Nothing personal against him as a person, just made me raise an eyebrow. Seems now he’s changed his mind however. Funny though why he would have lied to me about the development of the regs. I only asked if he had any plans to add them to his sets in the future. But whatever I suppose.
B~
Brian,
I remember how annoyed you were. It’s possible the number of requests pushed him over the edge to start working on regulators now in order to maintain future business for those who would go elsewhere for full sets.
There’s no telling how long he’s actually been developing regs. I suppose he could reverse engineer something that already works and not waste any time on research & development.
I for one couldn’t be enticed in any shape or form to purchase anything from Mr. Sloan.
#1. I agree wholeheartedly re: his personality. Quite honestly, If I’m going to be playing something as personal and intimate as a hand crafted instrument…then I would really prefer a relationship of some form with the maker..at least respect. All my dealings with him have tasted sour to say the least
#2. He’s got too many irons in the fire. He’s a perfect example of a craftsman who has tried to market his skills (as a wood-turner/metal worker) too aggressively. He observed the market and offered as many products as possible. In this case he capitalized on the desire for UP’s.
#3. I’m not aesthetically fond of his work. His UP’s look like clumsy NSP’s
#4. And why make such a serious investment (they are expensive) in an instrument when you have no way to upgrade to a full set?
Just my opnion, mind you. MANY people report they have been/are very satisfied with their Sloan pipes!
CL, if the pipes play great and the price is great and they reed well and you can get them fairly quickly… aesthetics can easily become less important.
Knowing his pipes can’t be upgraded is no secret either. Typically their purchase is a good starting point and the set becomes a spare or sold when the ‘custom’ set arrives.
I’m not defending Sloan, he’s running a business and it’s possible to purchase a good quality instrument from a maker without getting personally connected to the whole process. This doesn’t detract from the quality of the pipes.
Look at it this way… you can buy many high quality band instruments and not have a relationship with the maker.
There are choices though and if having an ongoing relationship with your pipemaker is necessary you’ve got many good ones globally to choose from.
I bought John Allison’s Ray Sloan Practice set about a year ago, (Hi, John!), and have loved 'em ever since. I have a precision machining background & their construction quality level seem’s quite high. I would recommend them to anyone.
Re: Mr. Sloan’s reluctance to develop regulator’s. Why is that being viewed as a bad thing? In this world of reverse-engineering someone elses designs, and frequently completely missing the target objective, (Paki clone’s being sold on Ebay being a fine example), why is his reluctance to prematurely market a product before the engineering is fully worked out a bad thing?