Well, as hard as it is to admit it. The dark side will have to do without me. 
I’ve decided to sell my practice set on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7416806850 I guess I will have to enjoy the pipes as an outsider and fan. I hope someone can give it a better go than I.
Thanks,
Perry aka Cricket
For some reason I can’t see my listing, anyone have an idea about that? Does it take 24 hours for the listing to show up?
Whoa! Excellent price for a nice looking set… (that Dow Bellows alone is worth the buy-it-now price)!
Perry,
Sorry to hear the pipes weren’t doing it for you.
This is definitly a nice chanter.
I couldn’t determine the maker but it’s very well made. I didn’t think of Hunter when I saw the chanter. It could be one of his alright.
Best of luck Perry.
Tommy
Thanks Tommy,
I really love the sound of the pipes and I wanted so much to learn them. But for some reason, it just wasn’t for me. I told myself, I don’t have to learn every instrument to enjoy them. So far I have learned fiddle, banjo, whistle, and mandolin, with a stab at uilleann. I really appreciated the help you gave me at the Tionol, I was just so exhausted that nothing stuck. I hope I can sell these so I can buy a banjo back again. Had I known they were as valuable as they were, I would have raised the buy it now price, oh well, I paid 550.00 for the set and the reserve is set at 525.00.
edit: The listing is now showing, I guess it just takes a few moments.
that’s a Davy Stephenson chanter - I’m pretty sure of it, one of his “student chanters” with self mounts.(if it’s not a HUnter). Davy learned his craft from Peter Hunter.
I’ve an ebony chanter with boxwood mounts that looks like it.
Jeff
It appears my set has sold. It was taken with the “buy it now” price of 550.00, payment pending. Thanks for the info and advice. I hope the buyer learns better than I did. I still love the pipes and those who play them.
Thanks again,
Perry
The buyer is someone called smithand. I wonder who that could be 
He’s a lucky blighter, whoever he is.
I’ll be interested to see if I can find out more about the pipemaker.
Here’s a little more information on the chanter. It was bought from someone in England in '97, and that seller didn’t know the maker either. “The chanter is a wide bore “Rowsome” style which is on the loud side. It can be made to play quieter through reed adjustments. This chanter always played well and in tune for me. The bag pressure can be a little tricky on the back D.”
Pat Sky reeded it a while ago, so perhaps he might know.
Andrew
The length of the chanter, will tell you ifs its a Davy Stephenson or Peter Hunter chanter, there chanters measure 14" 1/2 inches in length, 
all the best. 
I’ll get out the ruler when it arrives next week.
The entire length of the chanter is 14.25". The reed seat under the windcap is 1.25". From the bottom of the windscap the wooden part of the chanter goes on for 12", then there’s nearly an inch for the brass bit. The key mounts are quite distinctive, and all of the mounts are turned from the wood. As far as I can trace it back, it was bought in 1997 from an Englishman who didn’t know the name of the maker.
It has quite a quiet, restrained sound.
Andrew
Get a new reed in it or open the one… in it… up… might help it’s timidness?
PD.
My mystery chanter is now playing nicely after I plugged in a reed made by John Pederson for my friend’s Maguire chanter. I’m still having trouble consistently covering all the holes for the bottom D, particularly when going from E to D, but it’s my fingers that are the problem, not the chanter. I get very nice hard Ds very easily.
But the maker is still a mystery. Davy Stephenson very kindly contacted me by email and confirmed that it isn’t one of his chanters. I was told that it doesn’t look like a Pat Sky chanter, and the 14.25" length would seem to rule out Peter Hunter too. It can trace it back to 1997, by which time it was already secondhand, and the maker was unknown.
Any more clues? Pictures are here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7416806850
and here
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?p=485119
Andrew
One more thought, Dave Shaw, an English maker of Northumbrian pipes, was mentioned as a further possibility, but the photo here doesn’t look too similar:-