Any advice which makers these days make best Rowsome type chanters. More & more makers are starting to make pipes every day, but I want to order chanter from some (Good !!) maker & I am ready to wait (up to 3 years ). What I want is that Rowsome sound - Best example to my ears is Paddy Moloney chanter.
The best 2 makers are out of reach (David Quinn closed the doors and Alain Froment sadly died). Many makers follow Rowsome plans, but they modify the bore to get rid of Rowsome issues and result is usualy good chanter but typical Rowsome charachter and tone are lost many times.
Yes - it is most in the reed, but still some bores can & some can’t sound like Rowsome.
Geoff Wooff told me he often got enquiries from people asking ‘if I get one of your chanters, will I sound like Gumby overthere?’. He always told them they wouldn’t, not by a mile.
Liam O Flynn is on record saying how Seámus Ennis, when playing his (Flynn’s) Rowsome, he sounded like Ennis.
Most of what you hear is the piper.
If you want to sound like Paddy Moloney, there’s only one thing for it. Play like he does.
I think you might be embarking on a long and ultimately fruitless quest. From what I have read, no two Rowsome chanters are the same, so there’s is no fixed “Rowsome design”. Some makers have managed to get their hands on a particular Rowsome chanter which they liked and copied it.
Paddy plays at least 3 different Rowsome sets (and possibly has a few extra Rowsome chanters too).
Curiously, Paddy also plays (from time to time) a D chanter made by Seth Gallagher. I don’t know if Seth bases his design on a Rowsome chanter but I do know his design for D chanters has evolved over the years (like many makers).
I’ve been impressed with the sound of Tim Britton’s D chanters which I would consider to have a bright tone. I don’t know whether Tim bases his chanter on a Rowsome chanter.
And to muddy the waters further, some makers have based their chanters on “Rousome” chanters. That’s to say: Willie Ro/u/wsome. (both spellings may be found stamped on instruments). Question: Does anyone know how divergent Leo’s (bore) designs were from Willie’s?
Second Mr Gumby…Only Rowsome can really sound like Rowsome.Paddy is similar in many ways and so is Pat mcNulty but is it any coincidence that they were taught by Rowsome?
Get rid of the issues, and you get rid of the “Rowsome sound.” As far as I understand it (which is only as a reed maker/player), that excellent makers following the best Rowsome design, (e.g.) K/Q, Aebi, Makoto, and others, ..even including those using a right hand reamer from this chanter excellent Rowsome, and a left hand reamer from that excellent Rowsome chanter, etc. still deal with the compromises at very least, to some degree. The octaves of the Gs, Es, in some cases the As, the harsh E (or lack thereof), and depending on the throat, the sensitive back D and C# etc. That’s just the way it is with these instruments.
There are corrections for those issues, but that starts to produce a different kind of vibe/tone. Many great makers have gone in that direction too! Different strokes… It’s all what you’re after.
Willie Rowsome died in 1925. Does anyone know of any of Willie’s work that is scaled to play at a=440Hz? Much of Leo’s production, particularly before WWII was much happier at A=450Hz or even A=452. To torture these instruments to play at A=440Hz and speak of “issues” begs the question.
If we view many of Leo’s sets as solo instruments, reeded to their native scaling, many of these ‘issues’ disappear. If played with strings, then having the fiddlers defer to their fixed tuning, all is well. Change to scaling of any of these earlier sets, and can we really say they are ‘Rowsome’ like designs?
I was talking with a pipemaker over the weekend who offhandedly mentioned that Leo’s chanters tended to adhere pretty strictly to his father’s specifications up to a certain point, but then around the late '40s or early '50s, he began to diverge from them somewhat. He claims that there are certain audible characteristics that tend to distinguish Leo Rowsome chanters from the two periods. Anyone out there have more information about this?
We have two of Willie’s sets in town. And I play together with one of them and it sure sounds in tune to 440Hz. Not sure about the other one, but it is a joy to look at.
I’ll second the comment on Tim Benson’s chanters. I’m a relative newcomer but I happen to live near him and we’ve discussed his chanter designs. His new chanters (mine included) are based on the Rowsome design. They sound great to me.
Thank you for the reply, mrpatrick. The only ‘Willie’ set I’ve seen up close and personal was a boxwood full set, marked ‘Rousome’. It was definitely a flat scale instrument, somewhere around C#.
Yes, thats the truth. I understand that Playing style + knowing to make good reeds are 2 most important things to consider.
I am talking about this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_QPsxsEa0I Very good recording/example starts at 0,29 - 0,41. To my ears typical Rowsome. And lost of Paddy of course !
I agree it might be a long search BUT All the Rowsome chanters I heard are similar having very distinct “to me unclean” buzzy/hummy tone & sound which I like - it is unique charachter which I miss in many other Concert chanters as they sound a bit boring to me. Who knows, mybe tapes & rushes ect. make Rowsomes so attractive
I am talking about Leo Rowsome chanters, althought Mick O’brien “Willie” is great chanter
I will check out, thanks
Thanks, but does he copy the original or it is modified to bring down to A440?
Thanks for info, but you are suggesting me to buy this Banana chanter - I think I will risk and order new from someone.
Very well said, Brazenkane I had these makers on my mind-I don’t have a clue which can sound most Rowsome-esque ??? Marcus Coulter, Chris Coe, Andy Faden, Evertjan Hart (I will add Tim Benson ?? & Thomas Aebi (expensive as I saw now - but I gues worth )
Decisions, Decisions? are painfull – there is no way I can try all these chanters in Live…
The original poster is probably referring to the chanter that Paddy can be seen playing over the span of three decades, which has a very distinctive appearance.
In the book Paddy Moloney and The Chieftans Paddy can be seen playing that chanter in 1961 (p45) and in dozens of photos taken throughout the 60s 70s and 80s including in the recent publicity photos seen in that 1987 book, including concerts and studio recording sessions.
Indeed there is only one photo showing him playing any other (possible) concert chanter, on p91. (There is a photo of him playing an early flat set, and childhood photos of him playing practice sets, but I’m not counting those.)
Now various photos show him playing various sets, but I’m talking about the chanter itself.
At least the Tim Benson chanter I have is an exact copy of a Leo Rowsome chanter but I don’t know if all of them are… You could always ask him. The chanter I have needs a slightly longer and/or wider ‘than usual’ reed to bring it down to concert pitch, rushes will help too. (Scrape thickness in relation to cane hardness is another important tuning factor, but whatever.) I have found it to be an easy chanter to reed and I am very happy with it, it plays and sounds great. I have understood that there is something special about the dimensions of the original it’s based on, so I can’t say if the sound is exactly the one you’re looking for. But then again I don’t know if all of his chanters are copies of that chanter. Just contact some pipemakers you like and ask them if they can make you an unmodified Rowsome copy?
From recollection I once counted at least 3 different D chanters in the Chieftains book (excluding the photos of Paddy as a child). I’ll have another look at it tonight.
!
BUT All the Rowsome chanters I heard are similar having very distinct “to me unclean” buzzy/hummy tone & sound which I like - it is unique charachter which I miss in many other Concert chanters as they sound a bit boring to me. Who knows, mybe tapes & rushes ect. make Rowsomes so attractive 
