Just curious.
I mean is it just that they are lower in pitch than D? Or is there actually something “flat” about their tuning that will make the family band cranky
with me?
In other words, if I get a C set would it be in C were A=440 or would it be in some wierd Cb kind of thingie?
Thanks,
Doc
Yes, flat of D. There have been many tuning standards in the past, as you probably know, and old sets were tuned all over the place. Concert sets were designed to be louder.
You should be able to fine tune your C set to get it where you want it, but may find it has a happy place just off of C at A=440. They be fickle beasts.
djm
Family band? 
Article by Craig Fischer, “Flat Sets; Vive la Difference!”
http://www.irishpipersclub.org/Web_art2.htm
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[edited to correct the attribution; article is by Craig Fischer]
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alas, but now I realise that we are talking about the real ‘A’ which on a C chanter would be played with the ‘B’ fingering and so ‘B’ on a C chanter (ie, concert A) would be around 440.
DavidG
Yes. If your set is in C, the note you get when you play the A fingering will in fact be G, and will be vibrating at 396 Hertz.
However, the whole A=440 means something slightly different.
A=440 and G=396 indicate the same tuning. Not every possible tuning in history used these values, however. In the nineteenth century, standards varied from region to region and orchestra to orchestra–some tuned to a flatter standard, others were slightly sharper. Over time, the trend has been to increasing sharpness.
It is conventional to denote the particular standard in use by naming the frequency of the note A above middle C on a piano. “concert pitch” is 440. SOme orchestras these days are tuning to 444, and historically values dipped as low as 420 or 400.
As you can see from the frequency of G, when you find an instrument made for a long-ago standard of A=400, you are effectively looking at an instrument which plays in C, rather than D.
Other sets are made to play at lower keys than D. They might exist in a time in which A=440, but be aiming at a lower sound.
Actually it got even lower, with French Pitch in the low 390’s IIRC. The Baroque pitch of A=415 was widespread for a very long time (a century or more?). While the pitch of orchestras was moving away from 415 in the early 19th century, most of the flutes and oboes that were in circulation around 1800 to 1830 were probably A=415, which interestingly corresponds to what we today might call C# (or, rather, 20 to 30 cents flat of modern C#).
This is IMO the most likely explanation [i.e. my pet theory] for the prevalance of “C#” and “B” among pitches for irish union pipes of the 1800-1840 period. As was noted in a previous (rather convoluted) thread, the occasional “Bflat” and “C” instruments from the classic period of irish pipemaking could have been tuned to French pitch, e.g. they might have intentionally been pitched in the contemporary “D” and “C” in French pitch, respectively.
(sorry to get all pedantic) 
Bill
Yup, 13 kids, Ma and I. We do 2-3 gigs a month all proceeds going to an orphanage in Haiti where some of the kids got their start.
Here’s a picture from a performance we did in Salt Lake City several years ago.
http://irishflutestore.com/about.html
Doc
Great stuff Doc!
I’m scandalized. 13 kids and not one of them playing the uilleann pipes.
But seriously, we all talk about making a difference, but it’s rare to come across someone who really does make a difference. Well done.
Flat, concert, and High Pitch were terms used to describe flutes in the 19th and early 20th centuries. German and American flute makers used the term Low instead of Flat - I own flutes made in Austria and New York that are stamped HP and LP respectively - High Pitch and Low Pitch.
“Set” I remember coming across in organ terminology - along with “regulation.” The pipers at the 1900 Oireachtas were described as having “double sets” of pipes, with the exception of Jem Byrne, who had a “single set,” i.e., a practice set. Also, many old makers had what seems to be an arbitrary interest in pitch, their chanters are in set lengths of 1/2" increments - 14 1/2" through 18 1/2" in 1/2" steps - which perhaps suggests that pitch wasn’t such a crucial matter to them. The old Kerry piper Brother Gildas wrote of chanters in such a way, and also sets of pipes - 15 inch set, 17 inch set, etc.
Kevin, I have my doubts about this. Chanters are often referred to in this way, but I have yet to be convinced that the classic makers made their chanters to even 1/2" or even 1/8" steps; doesn’t look that way to me.
Bill
Hey I’m working on it. Mom’s been kind of a tough sell. Not a big pipes fan I’m afraid. I don’t know why. I mean how much more noise could it make than we already have?
The “York” Egan set’s chanter is 15.98" long. John Hughes’s Coyne I think is a smidge away from 17 1/2". Just going from memory here - did I just happen to come across two special cases? I seem to recall that the various chanters listed in the museum checklist on one of the SRS CDs seemed to often come in very close to nice even imperical numbers. I made a chart so I could remember what 410mm was etc., and it seemed to build a case, you might say.