Further Explanation about my experience of Pakistani Bagpipes in general, and Uilleann Pipes in particular: I started seeing the GHBs that were made in Pakistan in the early 1970s and of the 2 sets I saw, they had good quality chanters and drones, I didn’t see the oridginal bags, but in 1993 I got a gift of one of these chanters from the 1960s, by John Rosenburger, who was a Pipe Major of one of the Scots bands in the San Diego, California. I put it together with a set of drones also made in Pakistan, for my son to play (and he still has it) John was using his Pakistani chanters as massed chanters for the pipe band and being all made by the same maker, could be reeded and tuned together, for a good sound for the band. Another was a chance meeting with a street piper, Saxon Roe, who was playing on Telegraph Avenue, in Berkeley, California, summer of 1974, his pipes made in Pakistan, were supplied to him by a high school in Sacremento,California, where in addition to a brass marching band, they also had a Pipe band. This set was so low, around A=440, that my 1971 R.G. Hardie (Glasgow) set couldn’t tune down to it, my Hardie being a B flat instrument. I asked Saxon if I could play his pipes, and he assented. I tuned the Drones and immediately a large crowd gathered, this was my 1st experience with low A chanters on GHBs, and I became an advocate of this tonality, so much more “mellow”, and with rich harmonics, etc. Later I purchased a Old Scots Chanter made by J. Center, in the late 1890s, and a Robertson, made circa 1920s. and got some reed designs going to play these old chanters. which you can hear the results of this on my GHB track on the Bagpipes of the World CD. I mention this as a explanation of the low pitch chanter of Saxon Roe, that the gossip for years, in the Scots piping community,was that some time in the 1880s, a Scots piper in India(Pakistan didn’t exist till 1947-48) who needed a repair on his pipes, and had a new part made by a local wood worker, this is the start, supposedly, of the manufacture of the BIN BAJA, of the native pipes of India, the BIN is the snake charmer reed pipe, and there were bagpipes such as the MOSHAQ, and SHRUTI (now an accordion drone for the Bansuri flute) shawms such as the SHANAI and the NAGASWARAM. All of these instruments are reeded wind instruments with the sound we associate with Bagpipes here in the West. Reis Flora, an Aussie Oboe player, in his doctoral thesis “AEROPHONES OF THE SUB-CONTINENT” posits an Indian origin for all our reed pipes, going back thousands of years. GHBs of a lower quality started appearing around 1974, there was a big band instrument music store in Santa Monica, California, that had really cheap sets made in Pakistan, and displayed in umbrella stands all over the store. This is the crux of the need to buy low and sell high, the importers DID NOT want to pay for the good stuff, and drove down the price they were willing to pay the Pakistani makers (SKIALOT, a city in Pakistan, pronouned “Shall-Cot”) and turning over these sets, priced as low as $30 USD, for an average price of $149-250 USD, you can see them on Ebay, anytime. Now on to the Irish pipes…(about time you’d say?!) An American Importer who will remain an open secret (Like DeepThroat) started the ball rolling in the 1990s here in the USA. I started seeing people that had bought these UP sets and wanted them to work, even more than the 2 people that I mentioned in the the previous post here. At first I made cane chanter reeds and had plugged and redrilled the inlet hole in the bellows for a proper position on the the board, remanufactured the outlet tube on the bottom bellows board going to the blowpipe, seasoning the bag, rewrapping the tenons with thread, instead of the hemp, etc. For all of this I had to charge $100 USD, and this was a practice set which the owner had payed $450 USD. Many more came until I said enough, I’m not going to touch this stuff any more. The Burtchaells who stared this thread, have emailed me about this subject and I wish that the ENTIRE TEXT of these two postings be reproduced, by way of an accurate quote, YOU WERE RIPPED OFF! and you don’t have to purchase PAKISTANI UILLEANN PIPES to achieve the same level of being ROOKED, BURNED and BAMBOOZLED! There are plenty of bad sets from long ago(19th century), to within the last 30 years, that are made in the ,USA,IRELAND,GREAT BRITTAIN,and elsewhere. The NPU in Dublin, in their list of makers, circa 1993, had the Latin phrase CAVEAT EMPTOR (buyer beware) They did not at that time, wish to “rate” or VET makers, as the club did not want to discourage any body from making Irish Pipes. The pipes have been made in a cottage industry setting for all the years that they have been in existence, perhaps somebody CAN turn them out in a factory, with all the new technology, and sell them for less than the cost of a good kazoo, but I hope that these forums can warn people away from the bad sets. Buyers have to inform themselves, and $600 USD is not a “impulse” buying price.
So Steve and Mugs. You can sell it honestly as a never to be played “WALL HANGING” decoration, and it’s important to have a VELVET BAG COVER on it with nice contrasting trim. A VELVET BAG COVER adds at least $100 USD to the price of any bagpipe, good,bad or indifferent, so I’m not being sarcastic. I regret having to bow out of this discussion as the mere mention of it, is distressing to me, I am not a racist, against all things Pakistani, I love the hard working people that they are, and I love their FOOD! Perhaps someday SOON they can be PAID WELL for their labors, and with that PAY and a great amount of RESEARCH, put out a good set of Irish Pipes. SEAN FOLSOM