Question:
How would a person go about beginning to make uilleann pipes? All these great makers started somewhere, and THAT is where I am. I’m a college music/art student and would love to start dabbling in pipemaking. I’m serious about this, too, though you might laugh.
Apprenticeships? Schools? Where do I go? How did everyone else get started? Do you call up a maker and beg him to let you follow him around?
Thanks,
Joey
Most of these makers tell of their beginnings in their websites.
Seth Gallagher was already working for a musical instrument maker when he made the switch to Uilleann pipes.
Joe Kennedy, like many pipemakers, did some reverse engineering on a chanter he liked and built drones from plans along w/ help.
Davy Stephenson studied under established maker Peter Hunter.
Andreas Rogge was taught by Matt Kiernan
Bob May an instrument repairman by day does some basic pipemaking as a sideline.
I work for an instrument maker right now making recorders and baroque flutes. I use the shop in my spare time to work on my own stuff. I plan on getting my own shop going at some point, but I’m in no rush. I think one big step would be to get both volumes of the Sean Reid Society Journals, which are published on CDRom. Here’s the URL for the SRS http://www.esatclear.ie/~seanreid/
There is so much info on these journals and we are lucky to have access to them. Get them.
Start reading books on the skills you need and finding ways to practice them. Woodturning is a big one, but so is machining metal…you need to make many of your own tools in instrument making…most importantly the reamers. Leather work, like saddle-stitching, is important for obvious reasons…
If you want to get the best book on woodturning, hands down, get ‘Turning Wood’ by Richard Raffan, and the video that is sold by the same title (they compliment each other). If you can afford a course in basic machine shop at a local technical school, I’d take it…it’s an invaluable skill to have…the better made your tools are, the better your resulting work will be.
If you don’t make reeds like a madman yet, I would start making them regularly…most pipemakers say that that is the most important and frustrating part.
Oh yea, you better make sure you’re a crazy obsessive wacko first before you consider getting into instrument making.
Aaron Welsh
Dear Joey,
Try the Yahoo! group amaturebagpipemakers. Nice people lots of info, even some plans you can donwload. Be ready to give yourself absolute s**tfits! It’s worth it though.
Marc
It’s a good group for basic questions. The plans, as I remember them, aren’t all that useful. David Daye has some nice chanter measurements on his web site.
Dionys
One thing I will note here is that a good instrument maker probably also plays pretty well. You have to be able to appreciate the differences between a pretty good instrument and a very good instrument in order to make the best you can.
David Daye’s page at http://www-bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu/~bdaye/bagpipes.html has some really fun articles on U-pipe home-building. This is not professional-looking and precise pipe-making, but could be a place to start.
-Patrick
As far as pipes go… I’ll agree with you on that Patrick. The makers I know are also excellent pipers.
On the other hand, I’ve seen a few guitar Luithers that were seriously lacking in musicial talent but had the magic touch for instruments.
This all brings us to a very important question: Was Stradivarius a great violinist? 
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“Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving-” Oops, never mind.
[ This Message was edited by: energy on 2002-08-26 16:57 ]
as goatpiper says,reedmaking,reedmaking, reedmaking.i am learning to reed my chanter in several different ways.learning what and where makes the reed work. hopfully intuition will began to creep in next to all the mystery.
tansy
At the Piper’s Gathering last weekend in Vermont, I had the opportunity to have a class with Benedict Koehler. He is a very delicate player with terrific skill. He’s the first to confess that he’ll never outspeed many players, but he had very fine techniques and splendid grace. You can tell that he’s an excellent craftsman too, just by listening to him critique and teach. He chooses his words precisely and I imagine he is an absolute perfectionist in the workshop too. I don’t think you have to be the finest player on the planet to be a master technician, but it’s paramount to have a very finely trained ear. Just my observation;-)