Hi everyone. Bad news for anybody awaiting a Murray practice set. Got an e-mail from him today. He’s putting all current orders on hold because he’s having a difficult time fitting in production with his gig schedule etc. Rather than let quality suffer, he’s trying to clear things up, and possibly get a partner. He said if he can’t do that though, he may have to cease indefinitelyt. Sucks, I’d have had mine in a couple months.
Corin
With all due respect to Patrick, he is choosing to do what he does best. I would hope that he would honor his commitment to his customers with whom he has discussed business before he decides to close shop.
Many pipemakers are great players…but, I don’t know too many who can meet the demands of their craft and also take on a large number of “gigs” and keep everyone, including their own families, happy. Tim Britton has, reportedly and based on information provided by a few who attempted business with him, had problems in the past meeting the so-called demand for his instruments due to his performing and recording schedules. Some of these guys may be “triple threats” in that they can play, perform regularly, and also craft pipes well. But, as in medicine, the triple threat (doctor, teacher, researcher) is becoming a rare breed due to the demands on the individual.
What Davy doing with all those bodhran tippers beneath his lath? 
Patrick is indeed busy with gigs as well as other projects that he is working on.
He´s a good friend of mine and probably the most creative person I know. He just put together a band called Tradbot which I hear had a pretty sick show at the Burren during the Boston Irish Festival. Kind of a cool fusion with pipes and definitely worth checking out if they ever go on tour.
Don´t know if he´s going to keep making reeds although I know he wanted to. Hopefully he´ll get back to making chanters because they were finally starting to look good.
Alex
Not sure about Spillane as a triple threat. He doesn’t make many sets. And, from what I’ve seen and heard, not all of his sets sound as does the one he plays on his recordings…lots o sound EFX’s going on there. Further, his sets seem to have a low resale value as I’ve seen some chanters for sale for $300 and under. How many gigs does he do? Concert tours? I’m not aware of any. So…nah…not quite the triple threat in my mind.
I just took a look at Patrick’s site, and it looks like some interesting changes are taking place. He’s not completely halting production of his chanters, but he IS transferring ownership of their manufacture. I hope we don’t have another Overton/Phil Hardy type split here. Too early to tell at this point anyway. Apparently if you read through his second page of explanation, he sounds willing to share his ‘trade secrets’ with any aspiring makers as well.
curiouser and curiouser…
I hope the lathe’s not actually spinning in that picture.. Safety glasses and earplugs, people (and some kind of respirator / dust collection system)!
Dionys