Would anyone here happen to know anything about Chris Bayley’s or Alan Logan’s uilleann pipes?
They are both reasonably priced, available relatively quickly and very tempting.
Thanks!
Anima,
What country are you in? I have URL’s for both pipemakers, but no experience with either. For the benefit of those who read these postings I’ll post their website addresses.
Chris Bayley’s main page
http://www.bagpipeworld.co.uk/
Alan Logan’s main page
http://alogan@loganpipes.omn.net/
Notice the dual inlet bellows… I haven’t seen this anywhere else.
What wait times are they offering ??
[ This Message was edited by: Tony on 2001-10-19 19:08 ]
I am in the USA and have viewed their web pages. They both make pipes in the mid-range for price (which is what I can afford), so I am mainly wondering if their pipes were of good value for the price.
anima, what’s your budget and what are you looking to buy ??
Have you considered any pipemakers from Australia?
With the current rate of exchange, you can get some ‘top notch’ pipes for less than average pipes anywhere else.
My range goes up to about $725 USD max. I looked at some Aussie makers but felt that the price for shipping from that far away might be prohibitive. It’s funny, Kirk Lynch is about 30 miles from me, but he is way out of my price range (great guy though, talked to me for about 30 minutes and gave scads of advice).
also the waiting list times for American makers is very discouraging. I’ve noticed that the UK folks have much shorter waiting periods.
BTW Chris Bayley quotes a wait time of 2-3 weeks for practice sets, Alan Logan says its about 4 months (as does Ray Sloan - someone else I am looking at)
Many ‘fast delivery’ pipemakers do unblocked keyless chanters at low prices because it’s so much easier to produce a smooth chanter… however, the short comming is these chanters cannot be upgraded unless the pipemaker can do pin mounted keys (commonly found on flutes, oboes & clarinets)
As long as you’re considering pipes from Ireland or England I would consider Australia too. Freight charges from Australia aren’t expensive. Remember the rate of exchange is in your favor.
I have experience with Ian Mackenzie @ Simack and highly recommend his pipes. I think his backlog for a practice set is about 6 months depending on how you have it configured.
http://www.users.bigpond.com/cjhardiman/index.htm His webpage is currently under renovation.
I’ve seen some good reports about Adrian Jefferies from Mada Rua.
http://www.tth.com.au/irishpipes/
Another suggestion is to contact Song of the Sea for an O’Grady practice set. Priced at $850 for a 3 key chanter. It’s a good deal for middle-of-the-road pipes and they usually keep one or two sets in stock.
http://www.songsea.com/
[ This Message was edited by: Tony on 2001-10-20 07:23 ]
Thanks Tony,
I’ll look at those two guys in Australia
A store here in Portland, ORegon has a couple of Bradley Angus practice sets for sale at around $1000 (and could probably be barganed down). I have played both and they’re very good. I almost considered purchasing a Brad Angus set (great workmanship and sweet sound) because of his sets, location (local to me), prices and lead-time. Bought a Tim Britton set instead (I know. They’re nearly impossible to come by.). I think the store selling them is called ‘Artichoke Music.’
Dionys
Some makers produce resin practice sets for a very reasonable price and usually zero waiting time eg Andreas Rogge. Price less than a conventional practice set because it’s not intended to be upgraded…but if it plays well [which it will] then you will get your money back by selling it as a dedicated practice set when you are moving on to something bigger and better.
And let’s face it, when you want to get started, a long waiting list is very discouraging.
I think Des Seery also works on resin chanters, but response time not so quick as he’s primarily a flute maker [this info from a close friend who recently bought pipes from him].
Boyd,
Plastic chanters are a viable way of keeping the price down. In addition, there is no time lost waiting for the material to season between boring operations. I would expect Rogge being the preffered maker, but David Daye also has some really low cost options in kit form if one wants to go that route.
Websites:
Andreas Rogge
David Daye
http://www.daye1.com/
Except for the mouth blown plastic reed practice chanters, I haven’t heard a synthetic chanter… are they similar in sound to wood ??
Tony,
I haven’t tried a resin chanter, but I have a Seery resin flute and it sounds as good as a wooden one…one note it doesn’t play is the one you can hear if you accidently sit on a wooden flute !!
My friend said Des Seery reckoned the resin to be a far superior material to any of the woods that he used. When I bought my flute from Des, he said pretty much the same thing to me.
Boyd.
Boyd, thanks for the information. I don’t dispute the benefits of resins… especially when they are specific for the intended use, as in the sporting goods industry. The first few years seemed like they were going backwards, until then they found better compounds and designs. Now natural materials can’t compare to the synthetics.
Does Des Seery have a website ??
Anima, would you consider a used set of pipes if one became available ??
[ This Message was edited by: Tony on 2001-10-29 19:51 ]
actually, I just put payment to practice set of Davy Stephenson’s pipes. (www.bagpipeworks.com)
Now the wait begins. It’s killing me…
Awesome !!
Congratulations, how long is the wait ?? and are you getting any custom features added to the chanter, like keys, wood wind cap, exotic lumber ??
I pushed up my max dollar limit to 1k for pipes, whined and sulked with the wife and she finally gave in just to shut me up (works every time).
The chanter is ebony with brass windcap and I’m having a Cnat key added.
Look at the 2 ebony chanters in the middle picture on this page - the one I’m getting is an amalgam of the two, ie, brass cap (no stop valve tho) full bosses for keys’
http://www.bagpipeworks.com/chanters_2.htm
Fortunately he had a set nearly finished already so sometime in the next 2 months I should get them (and I can put away the plastic practice chanter forever)
I recommend you order a spare reed to go with that new chanter and ask for a specifications sheet with dimensions should you decide to make your own reeds.
There are many websites that sell reed making tools and supplies. You can buy publications showing reedmaking technique or get free information off the internet.
I’d rather buy spares from my pipemaker… he’s made a few thousand reeds successfully and has all the tools and resources.
He’s getting a 4-bbl carb, a 4" lift, an upgrade to the front and rear differentials and…
Isn’t it funny how different aspects of life parallel one-another?
Dionys
I’m getting 2 extra reeds with the set.
I’m not up to making my own reeds
Waiting list has crept up a bit now.
I use two styles of chanters - both are based on instruments by the Taylor Brothers and both can be fully keyed as all the mounting blocks are in place.
One style is the “normal” square style Taylor with the keys mounted on the back, the other with block mounted keys.
Unlike the conventional block mounted chanter this pattern uses long blocks not lots of short ones making the chanter quick to turn and very comfortable to hold.
Both styles are shown on my website at http://www.bagpipeworld.co.uk
I am based in the town of Redhill, Surrey UK
Callers are welcome but please let me know beforehand so a map can be sent and that I will be in and not out foraging for materials