I’ve seen various posts where people say this maker is the best or I’d buy from X or my dream set is Y. As I’m new to the game (although I have listened to quite a lot of uilleann piping), can somebody please indulge me as to what exactly appeals to you about a specific maker? I’m interested in opinions about ease of play, richness in tone, how easy to reed, etc. Also, does location of the maker play a role for you? For instance, I live 10 minutes from Bruce Childress but I’m trying to make an informed decision here. Thanks!! 
Living 10 minutes from a well-reputed pipemaker is the best start you can dream of. When I started, my pipemaker was 800 miles and across two seas away from me and living in a totally different climate. Reeds are changeable little things, and the reed that had been pefect in Ireland was next to useless in Germany. For the first two years I didn’t even know what a good reed feels like, and often enough I was near to giving up because the thing wouldn’t produce anything like a good sound and sometimes just would not work at all.
You can be very sure indeed that problems will arise with changing wheather, and you will definitely seek his help sooner or later. It would be only fair to get your pipes from him and not trouble him with problems of an instrument he is not responsible for. Ease of play and richness in tone depend mostly on the reeds and can be set up by the pipemaker to your requirements.
For the first 10 or 15 years of my own playing, my dream set would certainly have been the one made by a maker living 10 minutes from my place, if there had been someone.
Proximity is important. So is the reputation of the maker. BC Childress has a good reputation. If he lives close to you, that’s a great advantage, particularly with your first set of pipes. Also, Bruce’s leadtime is about one year now, which means you don’t have to wait forever.
I’ll second what PJ says about Bruce Childress. I live near Baltimore and (despite the distance of several states) Bruce has always been available and very helpful with any issues I’ve had regarding the full set I have of his manufacture. His turnaround time is incredibly fast and his prices are fair.
For me the two most important things for me are tone and ergonomics.
Tone of course can be a very subjective quagmire, much of which has been discussed in other threads on the forum. (I.e. what governs tone more - the reed or the chanter, weather conditions, etc…etc…). Proper pitch intonation should be considered a given for any good chanter, so I would include that requirement under tone.
So, given that the chanter plays reasonably in tune and sounds like an uilleann pipe should, I am most concerned with how it FEELS when playing. I have been fortunate to own several chanters over the years and ultimately settled for the one that just “fit my hands” the best. Ergonomic adjustment of the neck length on the bag, bag size and stock placements are going to impact how the instrument feels for you.
Having a pipe maker close by to help with bag adjustments would be quite valuable indeed, but it can be a one time job so I would consider it convenient rather than crucial. My advice is to attend some of the various piper gatherings and check out as many sets as possible if you can.
Barring that, get hold of a good budget set and just get playing!
Paul
P.S. You can PM me if you want me to “name names” but I can only comment on sets that I have actually played.
I think “customer service” is very important. I’ve been looking to upgrade from a practice to a half set and sent inquiries to a few makers nearly two months ago. One of the makers got back to me right away and has been extremely responsive to every question I’ve asked since then. Two other makers–both very well known and with great reputations–never bothered to respond. Needless to say, I won’t be buying from them.
Personally, I’d like to hear more people’s opinions on this.
Based on my review of the various postings in this forum, proximity to the maker and the maker’s reputation seem to be the primary factors most people rely upon. And whenever someone asks which maker to choose, proximity appears to be given primary emphasis. But really, if you are given a choice between a set from a nearby maker with a recognizable name–but without the reputation of, say, Koehler & Quinn–or a Froment set (or a Dave Williams set) which would you choose?
I guess what I’m really asking is how a given maker gets a reputation for being a great maker. What, exactly, is it about a K&Q set, or a Froment, or a Hunter, etc. that makes their sets so desirable? Do they have specific qualities that sets from other makers with lesser reputations lack?
I remember a story about Dave Williams a friend of mine in the North of England told me: a friend of his was interested in a set of pipes so he decided to enquire at Dave’s (this was during the early 80s), one sunday morning he and his wife went off on the motorbike to Dave’s workshop. They left early, around eight, and took just over two hours in freezing weather to get to the workshop. They knocked and Dave stuck his head around the door. After the enquiry was made, he went back inside and came back saying ‘here’s a price-list, good bye’.
My friend was giving out about ‘the miserable bugger’ who ‘didn’t even give them a cup of tea’. I felt like asking him how he’d feel about unannounced callers on the early sunday morning but didn’t.
Anyhow, most ‘reputable’ pipemakers aren’t too keen on making regulators for any old set that isn’t theirs.
When all things are equal I can understand proximity coming in as a bonus. But when I bought my present pipes the maker lived on the other side of the earth and I never regretted making quality of workmanship, tone and playability the prime issues when making my choice, in other words I decided to go with the set I thought suited me best and I have been playing it for nearly 25 years now.
Why turn away from a better instrument because there may be a mediocre option up the road?
If you have not already, ask Bruce if it would be ok to come and listen and hear how his pipes sound. Also if it’s possible to make it to the North East Tionol, listen to a variety of pipes by different makers. You’ll hear pipes by respected makers sound poorly or average when played by hacks like myself and you’ll hear pipes by not so famous makers sound excellent when played by a great piper. If you buy a set from one of the more respected makers here in the states, my personal experience is that you should not have a problem making reeds and you should have a set you would be content with.
Jim
The issue with having a pipemaker near you becomes important when you are the only person within a hundred miles who even knows what uilleann pipes are. You need someone with experience and expertise to help you when things go wonky (and things will go wonky on UPs). If you live in Ireland, where the walls are practically throbbing with pipes and piping, and the whole country is only a couple of hours drive across, it is not a big issue. If you live in Bugfart, North Wilderness, having a pipemaker or other experienced person anywhere near to within a day’s travel becomes priceless.
It’s hard enough trying to learn pipes with no teacher around, let alone have to contend with pipes and reeds and all their little weirdnesses. Take advantage of someone’s nearness to you, but don’t be surprised of they want to charge you for their time. If they give you their time and experience for free, be appreciative of it. They don’t owe you anything.
djm
I’m playing on my 3rd set, the only full set i’ve had so far.
The first was a practice set, cheap and with almost no waiting time by a maker in Ireland. Never played well, and chanter difficult to play, for me anyway.
2nd was a half set from a reputable maker in Ireland and cost me a bit more and a waiting time for 6months. Good set but I grew out of it and wanted more feel and I never felt fully comfortable playing it.
3rd set from mr Gallagher is a dream. I wnt to US to pick it up and it plays well and you can actually “feel” the timber singing in your hands. I will never part from it, but then again if I had not played on those other pipes before I wouldnt really know would I?
My point is try out a few and go by heart and you’ll find something in the end. After all it will take you a few good years learning how to play the beast. You will learn faster on a proper instrument and with good maintenance and support. I would have done a lot for just that.
Rob (going back to Cobh for holiday next week yeay!)
I don’t know if the ‘walls are throbbing with pipes and piping in Ireland’ even if I live in a little townland with five pipers in it.
It’s no use moaning DJM, when I started the pipes in 1979, I lived in Rotterdam, the number of piping recordings available was around the half dozen, there was no internet and very few pipers anywhere. A lot worse than today’s resources available to those in Bugfart, NW
It’s not about “moaning”, Peter. It’s about explaining why having someone experienced with uilleann pipes near you can be so important when you are first starting out.
It is true that there are enormous resources available today that were’t around before. The result is that hundreds more people are attempting to learn UPs than ever before.
Still, UPs are nowhere near being ubiquitous, like guitars or keyboards. You can read and read all day and still not learn as much in a book or on-line as you can get from a half hour one-on-one with a good teacher, whether it be learning to play tunes or just learning to maintain your set.
djm
Sure, although the poor lonely piper’ is one of your favourite ones, but if there’s nobody around you get on with it, unless you prefer to go on the internet and talk about it.
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Interesting. So are the best makers simply those who happen to be lucky enough to have a “style” that appeals to a greater number of people than other makers? I realize everyone’s taste will be somewhat different, but it seems like there must be something (or “somethings”) that really experienced pipers can see, hear, or feel when they pick up an instrument they’ve never played before that indicates to them that it’s an unusually high quality set. Then again, what do I know? (The answer is, not much.)
Everyone generally agrees that you want the best quality set you can afford so you at least have a fighting chance with the beast. But is someone who is relatively inexperienced in a position to make that determination? And if the advice would then be to have an experienced piper take a look at them, what exactly are they looking at or looking for? Am I beating a dead horse?
By the way, I’m not the original poster of the question. That person has probably already chosen their set. I’m simply following up because I’m intrigued by the question and found myself going through the same thing when deciding to upgrade to a half set. I still doubt that I’m the best judge of whether a set I try is really a “good” one.
The best answer is that the answer changes with your own experience and tastes. Because the answer is always changing, even for yourself, there is no one answer that anyone can give you that everyone can agree on. Not all players like the same sets, or the same features of sets. There are detractors and nay-sayers for even for the best known pipemakers’ sets. You should hear what some of the pipemakers say about each others’ work. 
Get a beginner’s set that you can afford (there’s lots for sale on and off, here and there). Get your feet wet. Get some live instruction if at all possible. Learn and grow from there. You do not have to be married to one set forever, and you should not set out at the beginning with the most expensive set in the world.
djm
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Well I’d sure as heck go over to Bruce’s and listen to his pipes.
I’ve never played a Childress set but have heard only positives about him and his instruments.
I’ve only played sets by half a dozen makers and am certainly nothing like a good player. I love Lynch sets because they seem warmer, richer and less “in your face” than some sets. I have a Roberts set here now that I like for the same reasons.
Customers want the best? You think you’re a customer? If you equate buying a set of pipes to buying a CD or a pair of jeans or a new TV, then I pity the pipemaker you’d buy from. A typical set of pipes is made for a particular person by a particular person - intuitu personnae. They don’t mass produce them (except they guys that sell on eBay 
). It’s much more personal than that. I’ve mentioned in previous discussions that the pipemaker’s business model is more like a pre-Industrial Revolution (I don’t mean this to be in any way disrespectful) or certainly pre-consumer-based society which is based on a different type of relationship than we’re used to in the age of consumer protection, extended warrantees and so on.
You’d buy a set based on the look? It’s a musical instrument. Why not consider buying based on the sound?