Do any of you guys use a spare chanter for sessions to save wear and tear on your prize reed/chanter combination ? Or is this just not a feasable idea? Thoughts?
Hi Gold Ring
I use an el cheapo Pakistani chanter for my knock about chanter. My good chanter lives at home in stable conditions so that I can play it without faffing about with the reed. The Pakistani pipes have a plastic reed that I never need to bother about after Uilliam tweaked it.
David
Crikey, sessions can sound bad enough without the musicians bringing sub-standard instruments along. Imagine if the fiddlers turned up with their Chinese-made Skylarks and the fluties with there PVC/shower-rod flutes and the Banjo players with their plunk-a-dunk-dunk banjolins.
Nope…my chanter goes with me whereever I go to play. No sense in paying top dollar for an instrument or spending time getting your reed right if you wouldn’t want to take it out of it’s cabinet except to do some privat practice in the basement.
Cheers,
DavidG
No.
Ditto.
DavidG - I didn’t know you’d been to my local session!! 
But seriously, it’s a bit like bringing the girlfriend to the pub and leaving the wife at home. 
A very good fiddler at the local session plays this old battered fiddle, at first I thought it was a spare from a flea market - untill I learnt that it was built in the 1700’s and worth about the same as my Bb full set…
- And I allways use my 2000$ Williams chanter.
Why buy it if not to use it?
/Morten
I take a completely different set to sessions. It’s not that I am preserving my best set, just that there is never enough room for the pipes when you have to squeeze in amongst banjo players, fiddlers and dead goat beaters.
So I use a half set with Barrel Drones by Chris Bayley. Very compact design, and just as much volume. Here’s a photo of them in comparison with a standard half set.
Mike
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Is there an on/off switch for those barrel drones?
As I aim at presenting the pipes in the best possible light, I bring my best equipment to sessions.
t
I have ordered a spare chanter for keeping a second reed in playing order and for testing / adjusting reeds as I make them (a skill I am very slowly acquiring). It takes so much monkeying around to get my regular reed adjusted for proper balance, it’ll save time when I am making reeds to have something to test them on. The maker of the chanter I ordered (due in late August) assures me it takes the same reed as my Childress 1/2 set.
I am not proficient enough to perform with my pipes much, save for the odd intermission novelty presentation at GHB/SSP performances I participate in. When I do work up to performing with primarily my UPs, I should definitely think to use my better chanter in performance.
Dave Jones
Hi Tommy,
Yes, there is a very neat switch for the drones. Here’s a photo of each end. Very nicely engineered so there is absolutely no play.
Mike
Mike - very nice. I’m not a big fan of the long bass drone. CB does nice work. Can I ask how long you had to wait for these?
Mike, How is the sound? How does it compare to a standard set of drones?
Mike, is it possible to add regulators to this beautifull machine?
Carel
PJ - I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, so I didn’t have to wait long. Chris says that they are relatively quick to produce in comparison to the standard set up, but you would have to ask him how long you would have to wait.
Jim - They compare very favourably with the normal set up, with an added advantage. As all the reeds are in a common stock they amplify each other very nicely, and they really do produce a nice hum which blends in, rather than having an overpowering baritone or tenor drone which can happen with the usual set up. I was playing a few tunes with Brendan Ring last week, his set is quite powerful and I could still hear my own drones quite clearly.
Carel - Yes, regulators can be added. Chris is making me a pair of the “rationalised” regs - a tenor reg, normal 5 keys, with a baritone reg that just plays D. This is a good compromise, as it means the set is still no longer than it is now. Interestingly, this design is some 200 years old, and I believe that the regulators are not a particularly new idea. I will post some photos when I have them, but I don’t want to hurry Chris as he is getting on with my Monster Set at the moment.
Mike
Mike Hulme:
Could you possibly post a sound clip of your barrel drone set?
Peace!
Reepicheep
So, with ‘“rationalised” regs’, your hand would take up a slightly different playing position than conventional regs. Is that right or are the keys in the same position? Tough to visualise - need photos 
Reepicheep - I am installing a better sound card at the moment. The old one doesn’t give very good results. Once it’s up and running I will put a tune up of the Clips and Snips.
TML - The tenor reg has exactly the same number of keys in the same position. The single D baritone reg has one long key like a typewriter spacebar, and you slide up and down it. There is virtually no difference in playing position, only a great saving in weight and size.
Mike