If anyone is interested I have a black ebony flat chanter by Richard OMealy for sale.It was made in Belfast circa 1900-1930.The chanter is brass and ivory mounted with two brass keys and is stamped with the makers name.There is a reed in it which I had fitted in 1988.It was never used and is perfect, but closed up I imagine.The late Sean McAloon made it and also supplied the chanter.It is forty and one half centimetres long which is about fifteen and three quarter inches.The top is not original but was made by McAloon from Brass with a top Ebony mount.I am not sure if it is a Bflat or a c chanter.There is a neat pinned repair to one jaw of a key.I am a fiddle player with limited knowledge of pipes but I do know what modern makers charge for chanters and that OMealy`s work has substantial historical value,so it wont come cheap.Serious enquiries are welcome to my Email address,and I can send photos.
michaelcostello_1999@yahoo.com
Nothing with the pipes is cheap of course, but something about that line really bugs me.
It was never used and is perfect, but closed up I imagine.
All together now… 
O
Mealys work has substantial historical value
I won’t profess to know enough to argue that point but I once flirted with a presumed O’Meally set that we are fairly sure is truly a Hamilton set. I did learn a little of O’Meally during my brief period of ownership, though. But… how substantial really? Lets talk about how and why so we can all understand this statement or supposition. Chime in and educate us those of you who are really in the know or have opinions and have something to say.
I’ll start with a few comments. He was a pipemaker. OK. He won at least one award, perhaps more, for such in the 1890’s. Thus, his work was recognized by his peers, whomever they were at the time. Some of his works survive. IMHO, he seemed to be a copyist. As far as I know, no pipemaker today is copying or reproducing the external appearance of his sets or their bore dimensions.
Was it his work, or O’Meally himself, that had more of the historical value?
You see, having purchsed two supposed antique sets of pipes in the 8 years I’ve been pipering, and becoming more and more interested in the art world, I am looking at this historical value nonsense from the art world perspective.
There are pieces of art crafted by well-known “important” historical figures or artists that are essentially “worthless” as investment property and, despite their association with a famed creator, have no “historical value” whatsoever. Prices in the art world become inflated by people who know little to nothing of their true value and yet “gotta have” and by dealers who know little but would sell a trash Monet as “A Monet!!!” Hmmmmmm…reminds me of the example of the indication regarding price of a pipe chanter with a perfect closed up 17 year-old reed as offered for sale by a fiddle player to a bunch of not-in-the-know-pipers.
So…lets discuss and learn about O’Meally and get ourselves in the know!!!
I’ll give you $50 for it.
Antique sets are fantastic when they work, but most of them don’t…and many who have old sets only have part of them going…eg Mick O’Brien’s Rowesome set which now has a Froment chanter and A drone. Robbie Hannan rarely plays his whole Kenna yoke.
Buy an old instrument if you will, but expect to pay properly only for one that WORKS.
If it doesnt work/can’t be reeded/isn’t in tune with itself
it will bring nothing but heartache and hundreds of pounds of bills to pipemakers and reedmakers…
Does the high cost mentioned include a guarantee ???
Sorry to be cynical for once, I don’t think its because its a fiddler…maybe it was that hint that “I know this is worthsomething so you won’t fool me”.
Good luck to you, there’s bound to be a person out there prepared to take the financial gamble…America must have lots of wealthy endocrinologists or whatever hanging around 
Moderator, forgive me for I have sinned… 
Tis OK, I felt one coming on myself. 
There was never an A drone to start with AFAIK, so the addition of an A drone is probably not relevant. The chanter is a joy to play, but plays at its best very sharp of modern concert pitch. That’s not, IMO, a reflection on the chanter’s quality. Stuffed with rushes and with a ferrule extension as it is now, the Es suffer a bit.
Robbie Hannan rarely plays his whole Kenna yoke.
This may change soon. It’s been awhile since he had a reed for it that suited him, but he does now. The chanter is playing well, but in a pitch lower than the Rogge he’s been playing, so that means re-tuning the drone and regulator reeds. It’s understandable that he would be slow to do the latter.
Buy an old instrument if you will, but expect to pay properly only for one that WORKS.
If it > doesnt work/can’t be reeded/isn’t in tune > with itself
it will bring nothing but heartache and hundreds of pounds of bills to pipemakers and reedmakers…
I agree with that, especially as most older sets have been tampered with at some point along the way. However the chanters you cited would be IMO a bargain at any price. Most really good old sets never see the harsh light of the “open market”, which is probably a good thing for piping.
Bill
America must have lots of wealthy endocrinologists or whatever hanging around
Wealthy endocrinologists? They’re all in Eire. I know 3 of 'em and I want their jobs!
Good, so it wasn’t just me that was disturbed by this.
Jeff
I’m not sure I get the point of the discussion here. Someone is charging a premium because the chanter he’s selling may have historical value. Is that it? Or is it that he’s giving no guarantee as to it’s playability, tune, tone, etc.? 
Or is it that he’s a fiddler? 
Bill
They were just [clumsy] examples of how an older set might generate extra expenses, or might not always function in the way a non-expert would want [ie correct pitch, easy to play, etc].
Truly antique stuff really is a specialist buy if its as old as that, and not for the average beginner/intermediate who might not realise that there could be more work and tears before the thing takes off.
You’ve reeded Robbie’s chanter [well done, he’s very chuffed], but for how long has he had it and not been using it cos he couldnt get a reed to suit it and him at the same time?
The point being, I guess, that a search for the right reed from the right maker can even take a top player a long time to complete. What hope then for the average duffer [like me?!] on Chiff & Fipple?
The seller should maybe be pointed in the direction of 1 or 2 specialists who reed/care for this kind of instrument…maybe even yourself Bill? … if the “open market” is not the ideal place. I’m sure he wouldnt want to sell it to someone who’ll only complain about it afterwards if it doesnt work right.
And finally…its none of my business anyway and I don’t think I’ve added anything to the thread!
[well, maybe the endocrinology bit was OK ]
B
I wanna hear about RL O’Mealy. Talk it up folks.
Kudos to him for making pipes in the first place. Did he span a time when people in Eire were’nt doing much with pipes? What did he do to deserve the comment the seller made about historical value? Was it the fact that he made pipes in the first place? Did he bridge a gap of time when interest waned and others were not making pipes? Were his pipes really good? Was he just a famous showman and performer? Are his pipes studied so that our current makers can do better? How much should one pay for that chanter?
One hundered years from now will the instruments from current pipemakers with only modest abilities, and those hobbyists if you will, also be revered as having “historical value” by those who don’t really know any better? (Oh boy…that ought to get the fire hot enough to roast marshmallows. 
)
Like Glands, I’d like to know more about quasi-obscure makers like O’Mealy. I’m not sure why precisely. All I can say is it interests me. O’Mealy seems to fall in that post-Famine period when piping could easily have fizzled out entirely, but for, shall I say, the efforts of such makers (or is that too strong?). Another obscure maker, Ned White. What do we know about Ned?
I believe there were some snaps of an O’Mealy set on Paul Eliasberg’s site. The set was part of the Wm Kennedy exhibition, I think. I’m rambling now because I have enough work to work all weekend and I’m trying to postpone the inevitable . . .
From memory, there’s something about O’Mealy in the Armagh Pipers Club tutor. I’ll check this evening when I get home.
As has been mentioned before, there are ten tracks of Richard O’Mealy playing in his “uniquely staccato style” recorded in 1943 on Ross Anderson’s music page at
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/rja14/music/index.html
Pat D’Arcy has some images and text about O’Mealy on his site at
http://www.uilleannobsession.com/diary_2003.html
Scroll about 3/4 way down the page.
I’ve heard three pipers playing O’Meally sets on record: R.L. himself, Francie McPeake, and Joe McKenna on his first LP - playing a Rowsome chanter. All of these sets were in C#, which pitch this chanter would play in, or around.
Only a few makers were working in the early 20th century, the pipes were very much in the shade even with the Gaelic League revival. O’Meally’s work I’d call a mix of Taylor and Egan - the flat sheet metal regulator keys are from Taylor of course, and I think his regulators could be quite loud too - R.L.'s own regs sound quite powerful even one note at a time - but the chanter keys and shapes, the fixation on C#, and drone tone, remind me of Egan pipes instead of Taylor. The tone is never quite as sweet or the work as fine as the best of these older makers but O’Meally still made a fairly good set of pipes I think. I don’t know anything about how contrary they are to reed up. One of the SRS CD-Roms has measurements of one of his chanters. One thing I notice is that Francie McPeake doesn’t seem to use, or have, a hard D on his chanter. I don’t think O’Meally had his going either.
Pat D’Arcy has a poster of O’Meally on his site. R.L. was a bit of a blowhard, with his “ridiculous costume” and opinions of his competitors (O’Neill described him as “egotistical” in a letter). Robbie Hannon hosted a Long Note program about him, he was quite the character, and I like his piping myself. I’ve a video of a fellow looking around the Ulster Folk/Transport museum, talking to Robbie; Robbie mentions that he doesn’t really care for the sound of O’Meally pipes.
Robbie not being able to get a reed going in his chanter after all these years is indicative of how little people understand about these old pipes, I’d say. I implicate myself here, I used to have a helluva time with my old Taylor copy set, the regulator bores in the stock were very narrow, and the wide reeds I’d try to use were always scraping against the sides of the stock. I was too lazy to make narrower reeds, and I bet narrower reeds would solve some of the tuning buggaboos with those pipes too.
Or the Bb Angus chanter I picked up from you, Lewis: that’s actually the first narrow bore Angus stick I’ve owned, and most every reed I made for it Sucked! until I tried making staples with much wider cat’s eyes, and Voila! I’ve got a great reed in there now, I bet some of the others I’m working on will turn out even greater. And then I remembered Sean Folsom telling me about trying to reed up a Wooff chanter, and the back D was always weak - same problem I had. Sean pulled out a lot of hair in the process! Finally he called up Ted Anderson and Ted told him to make the cat’s eye wider…which did the trick of course. With a reed like that you need to use a smaller sanding cylinder, since the larger cat’s eye will push the blades together more (perhaps like this McLoon reed?). Smaller diameter cane works better as well, with larger diameter stuff you’ll sand most of the cane away.
Point is that without this kind of information you won’t get anywhere. I’d thought this cat’s eye stuff was optional; wrong! I bet that a lot of those reeds Robbie had made for his Coyne chanter had the usual smallish cat’s eyes, which DO work in wider bore chanters. And a lot of the reaming out of old chanters that’s been done over the years was due to misunderstandings like this.
The 2nd photo of O’Mealy on D’Arcy’s site give a fairly good look at this pipes. The regulators look very Tayloresque.
Kevin always comes thru with good stuff. Many thanks. Brilliant work solving the reeding issues on the Bb chanter. I’ll look forward to the next time I can enjoy hearing you play it as I did in SF…well…Oakland…in February. Hmmmm…Seattle tionol is just 4 mos away!!
See how little we collectively know of RL O’M? What sort of historical significance can there be? I suppose a high price for an O’Mealy chanter is not really justified.
I am being the advocate here.
Measurements?
Please?
Allthough I have my Angus Bb set working nicely (Chris Bayley took care of that - he knows what he is doing!) I could use all info for reeding it myself… I’ll post a few lines and pics on our website about my visit to him soon.
/Morten