Just a quick question on a keyed vs unkeyed chanter-
Can an unkeyed D play a C nat fairly easily? I imagine you can just crossfinger, but since I don’t have pipes (yet) I need to ask.
Thanks
Yes, you can cross finger Cnat. In the first octave this is preferred, as you can put a lot of character into it. In the upper octave it can be more difficult. One member here has suggested a method (do a Search). Most people I know prefer to use a Cnat key for the upper octave. Other previous discussions on keys will show you the many varying opinions people here have on keys.
djm
I will say to have all keys is better! If you want to play in D minor you need a F nat or A major you need a G#. As well this instrument is not only made to play irsih trad music ou trad music. 
Indeed, with a full keyed chanter you can play “French musette” music, blue grass, old time all sort of music. In conclusion it depend of what are you going to do thie this instrument?
PS some players can do all the chromatic notes without any keys juste by crossing fingering and alf cover hol. Well it is hard…
Yeah, I should have been more specific there. I pretty much only play Irish traditional, but there are some heavy Scot influences here, being so close to Cape Breton Island, so I play a bit of that as well - on whistle/concertina/fiddle that is, since I don’t have pipes.
I have simple tastes, so I don’t find myself in want of any more notes than I can coax out of a D whistle, so I’m hoping an unkeyed D chanter will do. For all I’d use an upper octave C nat, I’m not sure it would be all that practical to bother paying extra for it.
Thanks for the tips.
Sure it would.
An unkeyed chanter will fine for about 95% of the average repertoire. The high Cnat can be cross-fingered but it takes practice.
Being able to play G# or Ab might be necessary if you want to play Scottish lowland music - most of it is in A. I don’t know if that can be cross-fingered.
Tony,
Very succinct, please elablorate. You’re probably right, but I need convincing.
PJ,
I’ll just transpose it, it might throw off my accompaniment but they’ll pick it up by the second turn or so. Besides, I don’t play too many of them, and there aren’t many Scottish traditional purists here, so I don’t think anyone will get in a bind over it. Anyway, I’m not too worried over it. 
For Irish Trad music on uilleann pipes, keys are not frequently used, but there are definitely some tunes that cannot be played properly without them, at least not without some very fast and dextrous half-holing.
For Cnatural in the 1st octave, cross fingering works very well. Cnatural in the second octave will require a key for most chanters.
Fnatural is the next key to get, and is used the second most frequently (actually, maybe MORE frequently than the Cnatural key, since you can cross finger the 1st octave C)
Gsharp will be used for tunes in A - these are commonly fiddle tunes, and many Scottish tunes as well.
Bb is just about only for more modern tunes. If you’re not sure if you need this key, and price is an issue, I’d say leave it off.
So, in order or priority: Cnatural, Fnatural, Gsharp. I’d say if you get C, get Fnatural as well. G# is only if you plan to plan in A a lot.
I have 3 keys on my chanter (Cnat, Fnat, G#) and though I do use them, I don’t think I would have missed them very much for the first 5 years or so that I was playing.
Cheers,
Pelham
Cool,
Thanks!
Cool,
Thanks!
This keeps coming up, and obviously everybody has his/her own opinion.
But in my experience most players of less than full sets don’t have more than, say, two keys, and many that do have them have one or more keys plugged due to some problem that prevents them from working well.
Irish trad music is mostly diatonic. The number of tunes that both “suit the chanter” and require keys is modest. Exceptions might be D minor tunes or A tunes but this is a matter of taste, and some pipers will love/hate each of those keys. For instance Robbie Hannan constantly uses F nat, but rarely goes near the Gsharp or Bflat key, while someone on this list has expressed the opposite preference.
If you are playing with other folks who like to play things in ‘odd’ keys (some fiddle players for instance), then you can either let them have their fun without you, or invest in a C chanter, etc. to handle A and Dminor, C and F major, etc.
If you want to hedge your bets, and your prospective maker is willing to drill the toneholes and turn the keymounting blocks without actually adding the keys, you can have them covered with semi-permanent pads so that keys can be safely added later.
YMMV
Bill