Hi All,
When regs were first added to the pipe, was the baritone the first one to be added?
Thanks
Wayneo
Theories abound. There’s an interview with Pat Mitchell at the following link in which he discusses the development of the uilleann pipes:
http://www.uilleannobsession.com/audio/070700-latesession.ram
Alternatively:
http://www.uilleannobsession.com/audio/070700-latesession.ra
the development of the regulator began when the first key was attached to the zampogna,(the Italian bagpipe) approx the late 1300’s. Keys became widely used, obviously , in all WW instruments, (and eventually some brass too !).
the Sordelinna, a later Italian bagpipe, had a copious amount of keys; looking at the thing, it’s easy to see how the accordion & bagpipe family are “close cousins”.
The next signifigant development in the UP reg occured during the 1600’s in France: where the Baroque musette boasted a fully keyed chromatic chanter, with an open end,
and more importantly,
a smaller, closed chanter with 5 (may be wrong on the #) keys that xtended the range upwards. This 'petit chalameau", as it was called, sounded only when a key was opened, and could be played concurrently along with the main chanter, becoming a de facto reg.(it’s reported that they were a b&*ch to reed, btw 
)
The next step , iirc, was an addition of a closed, keyed chanter with a smaller range than the main chanter, to the pastoral pipes.
But, This is now way out of my area of operations: 
and I will gladly hand it over at this point.
The petit chalumeau can indeed be sounded while the chanter of a musette de cour is played; however there’s no good evidence that it was created for harmonic purposes - the harmony may have been just an unavoidable side-effect of placing the very highest notes on the second bore of a bagpipe whose primary chanter remained ‘open’. (Later players have exploited this feature for harmonic purposes, at least in recent times.) There is also no evidence that this was the inspiration for our regulator. In music, as in biology, parallel evolution is common. You could just as easily look at an organ keyboard as a precursor/inspiration.
That said, it is not unlikely that the musette de cour was known to the early Pastoral pipe makers.
All of the above predate accordions by a very long time.
will happily dispute this point with you on another occasion; til then lets hear more about how the uileann reg came to be. 
The Edward Fitzgerald Set:
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Ken McLeod´s Robertson Pastoral Set:
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test, wait
When regs were first added to the pipe, was the baritone the first one to be added?
Most of the sets I have seen in museums have a tenor regulator so guess this was the first
John
The Robertson set and the Fitzgerald set would seem to suggest that the D note was added to a pre-existing tenor regulator.
A counter-example is the baritone regulator below (admittedly from a later period), which was clearly not intended to accompany a tenor (i.e. it was always a one-reg set) - we think this because the tenon is too short to align with the keys of a tenor reg.
Given that some of the earliest known sets with regulators appeared with 2 regs (pastoral sets included), it’s hard to be sure. The very early James Kenna set had one reg which would nowadays be called a tenor - this may add a little weight to the “tenor first” hypothesis.
http://source.pipers.ie/Media.aspx?mediaId=7434&categoryId=89
From an imaginative organology perspective, the experiment of “adding a second chanter” would suggest the baritone was first - if you choose to believe that creation scenario. That level of knowledge of the maker’s whim is surely lost to us.
Bill
Now:
I´d be very interested in this question, too. However, here are a few pics that show the problem:
The Edward Fitzgerald Set:
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Ken McLeod´s Robertson Pastoral Set:
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The James Kenna Set played by Ronan Browne:
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Jonathan Farrar´s James Kenna Set:
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The William Kennedy Set from the Armagh-Poster:
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The regs have four or five keys. To find a “date of making” seems to be a big problem. From the technical point of view it would be logical that four came first and five later. I´d say the financial point of view did not count that much for the „Gentleman“ pipers. According to Kennedy´s own interview-words and to his date of birth it would not make much sense to date the making earlier than the last decade of the 18th century.
Mr. McLeod dates his Robertson and his Kenna into the 1770 – 80 period. There are some questions about the 1768-date of the Fitzgeral Set. I find it interesting, that the reg is „extended“. Was it made that way from the beginning??
What notes were played? The „gaps“ between keys Nos. 5 and Nos. 4 allow for the conclusion that it were D, F#, G, A and B. What about them 4-key-sets, however? F#, G, A, B ? No „gap“ but hard to tell from photoes. Billh, you must have comparatively easy access to the sets „in the flesh“. Could you ~ tell us the length of the regs and ask Mrss. McLeod or Browne about the notes?
I take it that only them two Kenna set are playable (looking forward for a recording of the Farrar set).
The 8 reg-keys of the set in the Morpeth Chantry Museeum allow for too many „authenticy-questions“ I think (and I have doubts that the reg could be reeded „dependably on“)
Cheers
Hans
Wow, thank you all for the great information and the wonderful photos of historic sets.
All the best to everyone.
Wayneo
There’s a book out about this subject:
Bagpipes: A National Collection of a National Instrument
by Hugh Cheape
It devotes an entire chapter to Pastoral pipes, and another chapter to Union pipes.
Pastoral pipes sometimes had no regs, sometimes a single five-key reg, sometimes two regs. Quite a few sets by Hugh Robertson survive.
There are several Union pipes shown in that book, all appear to have two regs.