I am also not completely certain but I remeber Gay playing a recital in NPU where he was explaing about the set before playing and he was saying that he originally thought the set to be C but on closer examination he deemed the set to be C# and played a C# chanter with it. The only slight uncertainty I have is it could be the reverse of what I just explained.
However I know for a fact that Nollaig has a C# chanter, don’t however know if he has the rest of the set to go with it
regards,
Mark.
Quite possible, I based my assumption on his recording with the set on Christy Moore’s Iron behind the Velvet. At that time it played in C with a Matt Kiernan chanter.
Speculating on it’s pedigree, as far as I know this set came from Leo Rowsome t othe McKeown family. And it makes you wonder is this the C Coyne Willie Clancy had for a while [his first full set a gift from Tom Looney which he traded for a Rowsome D, what was he thinking]. Paddy Hill recorded Willie playing this set and some of the playing is the very best piping I know. Anyhow, if Gay is not that particular set, the question arises where did Willie’s end up then.
I played the C Coyne at Gay’s in 2000 at which time the chanter was a Rogge and the body and two regs were Coyne. Lovely old thing, not 100% on the pitch though.
Harry, Neillidh’s pipes were made FOR his father by James Mulcrone.
Joe Kenendy called in after he dropped off your pipes, a whiel ago he sent me a chanter for a pupil of mine. It is a nice chanter but as you say it’s a bit finnicky on some notes. He seems to tune them for fairly strong, open reeds and A is very sensitive to changes in the reed as are the octaves. He said he’s have to work on that a bit.
Noticed you’ll be playing in Crusheen tomorrow, small world isn’t it.
I was chatting to Gay since. The coyne set is now playing in C sharp after Cillian O’Brien reeded them.
Joe Kennedy is working on a modified Coyne design concert pitch chanter for me at the moment that should be easier blown ( chest expanding reeds with trumpet overtones are not my thing). It is of a narrower bore from what he tells me, he’s going to send over one of those and and another wider bore design to try out when his experiments are complete.
Is that a D chanter you are talking about there Peter? I have found the B chanter very stable in its little eccentricities.
I’ll post a few lines about the D chanters after I’ve tried them.
Regards, H.