flatset or concert set?

[Gabriel]

Hi folks,

short history at the beginning:

I started uilleann piping some weeks ago and immediately got struck by the bug. At the moment, I have a 1/2 set by "hobby maker" (quoted because he makes wonderful pipes which are better than many 'commercial' ones I saw or played) M. Gäbel for testing which I will 'downgrade' to a practise set since I first want to get used to the chanter before doing anything else.

But I'm already wondering what I'm going to do in near and nearest future...I love to play in sessions (flute and whistles until now), so a concert D set is absolutely necessary, but I also like this wonderful sound of (especially) B flatsets. What to do? Would it be more senseful to get a flat fullset in B for playing alone or "arranged" in a band and to use the concert D practiseset for sessions, or a concertD fullset and a B chanter?

I personally prefer the first variant, but I'd be happy to hear (read) your opinions.

Thanks & greetings!

PS: for those of you who have B sets: is the hole spacing more or less comparable to a lowD whistle?

[Joseph E. Smith]

Hello Gabriel and welcome to the Pages of Insanity, aka The Surly Chronicles.

I like the first option best as well. If you are in a fairly large session, you'll probably not be able to hear drones or regs too well. A practice set in D is good enough for that.

Getting a B full set, IMHO, is the way to go. Keeping the D practice set for sessions.

Good luck!

[No E]

...
PS: for those of you who have B sets: is the hole spacing more or less comparable to a lowD whistle?

Spacing is comparable (more or less), but the tone holes on a B chanter are much much smaller (thank the Lord!).

All the best,

No E

[glands]

(thank the Lord!).

You'll have to speak with Padre d'Arcy about that.

[billh]

Hi folks,...What to do? Would it be more senseful to get a flat fullset in B for playing alone...

PS: for those of you who have B sets: is the hole spacing more or less comparable to a lowD whistle?

Hi Gabriel:

I'd go with JES's advice, D chanter for sessions, and add the drones/etc. to the B set. Session playing is more about the melody, whereas solo playing really centers IMO on the interaction of melody against the drone. Also I think flat sets have a richness to the drone/reg/chanter mix that's lacking from concert pitch. If you like flat piping at all, you'll probably find that you prefer that mix. It's also the case, arguably, that flat sets can be a bit more cooperative, making your solo experience nicer.

As for tonehole spacing, that depends a LOT on your maker. Coyne, for instance, seems to have achieved the almost exactly same hand span for the tonehole spacing on instruments from C# down to B, and they are within 2mm of the span of a typical Rowsome (right hand spans on the Coyne examples I am referring to range from 96 to 97.5 mm), By that I mean that the distance between the hands gets bigger on the lower-pitched instruments, but not the distance between the toneholes on each hand. Other historic B chanters have tonehole spacing that's the same as, or in some cases even narrower than, most concert pitch chanters. The widest span of the "old school" B chanters for which I have info is a Colgan, and even its right hand span (about 104 mm) is only about 9mm wider than a Leo Rowsome.

This isn't true of flat chanters by some 20th century flat makers, I have one in front of me by a respected maker (deceased for some years) with a right hand span of 107.5 mm, which feels like a stretch to me, and I expect some makers' spans are wider still.

So this is something to discuss with prospective makers.

Bill