I’ve just been given a D chanter which, to my inexperienced eye, looks standard apart from the following details:
The lowest tone hole is simply enormous and is recessed to accept a key rather than to be stopped with a finger. In place of the next tone hole up there are four small holes arranged in a rectangle, the longer side of the rectangle running in line with the bore of the chanter. There are two brass pins, obviously key mounts, in the side of the chanter, one slightly above the large bottom hole and the other midway between the top of the rectangle of holes and the next tone hole. There is also a small hole in the front of the chanter roughly in line with the higher key mount.
At the top of the chanter the name “M CARTHY” is inscribed in a semicircle (in a U orientation).
I’ll get a chance to show the chanter to a couple of makers in the next couple of months, but in the meantime can anyone shed light on the mystery? The four holes in a rectangle seem particularly odd.
The chanter was given to me yesterday by Packie Manus Byrne. He dabbled with pipes a little years ago and received the chanter in its present condition as part of a set. About 30 years ago he gave the chanter to a piper who had volunteered to fit it with the keys it required. The man recently passed away and his wife returned the chanter to Packie. 30 years were evidently not long enough for him to get around to fixing it up! Since Packie has no use for it now he asked me if I wanted it. The rest of the set, it seems, he gave away to another musician a good while back.
[ This Message was edited by: StevieJ on 2002-09-22 10:17 ]
BTW, I tried to find you at the Montreal celtic Festival, but didn’t, obviously. I did find Bob and Winnie. My half-set is due in about a month, so I’m getting pretty excited.
On 2002-09-03 12:30, StevieJ wrote:
…In place of the next tone hole up there are four small holes arranged in a rectangle, the longer side of the rectangle running in line with the bore of the chanter…
Speculation…
That sounds almost like something designed for half holing. I don’t play pipes but I understand that getting f natural can be difficult. Many recorders have two smaller holes for the C and D holes instead of one larger one, and that makes it much easier to half hole those notes. Maybe this is something similar?
How are you doing? Well, if I don’t like my set, I’ll consider you as a potential buyer, but I have to tell you you’re not the first offer, and I haven’t even received them yet!
There was a pipemaker called Glenn McCarthy who worked out of London in the 1970’s. He sold instruments via Hobgoblin. I had a half set with a conventional chanter for about a year, before I got a Dave Williams half set. I remember the McCarthy chanter was very thin. Prehaps this is the same McCarthy and he would perhaps have been making pipes in the late 1960’s - early 1970’s? The chanter you have could be an experimental chanter or a special order?
I’m glad for you that you are finally getting your set after what, 1 1/2 years waiting? Things are okay for me, still whistling like a madman! Anyway, I’d like to try your pipes one day, so let me know when you get them!
Steampacket, I half-expected the name to be McCarthy but with the naked eye I really can’t see a little “c” before the big one. It is a rather slender-looking chanter though, at least at the top, with a strong taper.
Do you have any news of Glenn McCarthy - is he still alive, do you know?
I suppose it must have been an experimental design, though how the four holes in a rectangle are supposed to work is not obvious to me. I really don’t think they can be meant as an aid to half-holing Beth because there is the best part of an inch between the top and bottom pairs of holes.
PS Jamie I’m sorry I missed you at the Celtic festival but I’m not surprised because I showed up for the session gig three hours late. (Coughs sheepishly.)
I have a full set by Wilkinson and McCarthy
The chanter was un playable but the drones are about the best I have heard. The regs are not too bad but difficult to get them in tune.
The workmanship on this set is excellent and unlike any of the other McCarthy work I have seen most of which is not great.
The Bass drone has a tuning slide the like of which I haven’t seen on any other set
just a thought could the holes be pilot holes which were never drilled out?
[ This Message was edited by: piperben on 2002-09-07 18:32 ]
[ This Message was edited by: piperben on 2002-09-07 18:34 ]
“just a thought could the holes be pilot
holes which were never drilled out?”
Ben, how could I have missed that !!
I’m thinking the four holes are located next to each other. Your comment just reminded me that some pipemakers drill all the holes when the chanter is made and plug the optional holes (usually Fnat, Bb, Cnat and Ab) this way, you have less tuning changes to the chanter if/when the keys are later added.
A picture of the chanter should confirm this.
I don’t have any pictures of the chanter. Firstly I don’t have a digital camera and anyway I’m travelling. I will try to post a photo at some stage but won’t be able to for several weeks. I don’t think they can be pilot holes BTW. Pilot holes for what? Four big holes arranged in a 2.5 cm x 1 cm rectangle? Seems highly implausible.
It the four holes in the bottom end are just screw holes for a bridge/pin mounted key, the little gouged out bit in the middle is there to take a spring for that key [the one covering that huge hole]. I have no clue where the second hole that should be there went in that case, surely that tiny hole next to the F hole can’t be a serious attempt at that.
Maybe your man hadn’t a clue [or maybe he designed it that way for someone missing a finger]and made it so the lower hole played E. [only trying to make sense of it]
The unfinished square blocks on the side of the chanter are consistent with a [Wilkinson and]McCarthy chanter I had when I started, if it’s one of those you can safely nail it to the wall or bin it.
It would have been handy if your man had given the shot of of the whole chanter a half a stop to one extra so we’d have some more detail in the black stick, ah well, that’s exposure meters for you.
[ This Message was edited by: Peter Laban on 2002-09-22 11:20 ]
Finally a picture. I’d have to agree completely with Peter’s decision. It looks exactly like pilot holes for a pin/bridge mounted key for the lowest tone hole. The little gouge for the spring is the absolute tell-tale.
Try writing Wilkenson McCarthy to see if it was some kind of custom work for someone who lost a finger. It’d be interesting to hear the story behind it.
I heard of Messers Wilkinson and/or McCarthy were based in the midlands (near Birmingham I think). Dave Williams may be able to tell you more about them.
I definatley think that it is some attempt at an Uilleann pipe chanter.
It is typical McCarthy shape. I had a Chanter similar to the one in the picture. It was really slender, but not narrow bore. It was about one of the worst I have seen or heard. The drones however were excellent using the tripple bored type bass drone. Lovely and full of harmonics, if you like that full sound.
