I was surfing the internet, looking for legible and competent Uilleann pipe makers. I didn’t find a whole lot that were good, or from what I know is good and bad. But the only ‘good’ maker (if he is one) I found was Seth Gallagher. His practice sets come in either brass or sterling silver. Either one is around 1,400 to 1,600 US dollars. I was wondering if this guy makes Good pipes. Or if his pipes are worth buying. If anyone might know that is.
Also,
I was wondering how my chanter should be outfitted. Key’s? Or no keys.
Here’s a list of Pipemakers that I know of from within the US
Seth Gallagher
Bruce Childress
Tim Britton
David Boisvert
Kirk Lynch
Michael Hubbert
Kevin Popejoy (though I am not certain if he is in ‘full production mode’ yet or not)
Koehler and Quinn (… but I believe their books are still closed)
Seth Hamon
Nick Whitmer
… I am certain there may be more, I just can’t bring them to mind at the moment.
Don’t forget Chris Dixon - www.cjdixon.com Chris currently makes practice sets but plans to expand to half sets in the near future.
To answer your question - Seth Gallagher’s got an excellent reputation as a pipemaker. A number of professional pipers endorse his pipes, as you see from his website. Seth’s lead time is reasonable (less than 1 year) and although his prices are a little on the high side, you get what you pay for.
Keys? This has recently been discussed. There are basically two schools of thought:
You don’t need keys for 95% of tunes you’ll play on uilleann pipes. At most you’ll only need a C natural key for getting C in the second octave - some people say that even this key is unnecessary as that note can be cross fingered.
Get all the keys added at the beginning. It allows you get used to the feel of the keyed chanter and the pipemaker will make sure that all of the notes are balanced and properly tuned.
Personally, I started with an unkeyed chanter and after a few years I added 3 keys (Fnat, G# and Cnat). I use the Cnat frequently, the G# occasionally and the Fnat rarely. The addition of the keys didn’t upset the tuning of my chanter (that I have noticed) nor did the chanter feel any different.
One final note, don’t judge the quality of the pipemaker by his website. Some really good pipemakers don’t have websites at all (Geoff Wooff, Koehler & Quinn, Alain Froment, to name but a few).
You may bear in mind that choosing a maker within the US will make things easier for you in the long run… should you need reeds, repair or maintenance. Choosing a US maker may also bring the waiting time down a bit. Food for thought KOD.
