Are these Kirk Lynch drones?

flooter1979 · Post by **flooter1979** » Mon May 01, 2006 2:12 pm

Are these Kirk Lynch drones? Looks like they are.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Uilleann-Bagpipe-Bl ... dZViewItem

Reepicheep · Post by **Reepicheep** » Mon May 01, 2006 2:17 pm

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Mon May 01, 2006 2:28 pm

Reepicheep wrote:No.

... stay away, far away, from this stuff.

tommykleen · Post by **tommykleen** » Mon May 01, 2006 3:04 pm

What's the giveaway?

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Mon May 01, 2006 4:02 pm

For starters, the Other Worlds logo on the photos. Then, in the photos you can see the el cheapo bag cover that a lot of Pakistani bags come with.

I believe Kirk has changed the turnng of his drones slightly, recent sets I have seen do not look like the Pakistani sets any longer... but I am guessing here, really.

Reepicheep · Post by **Reepicheep** » Mon May 01, 2006 5:18 pm

Another giveaway is the presence of the mount and corresponding tube for a bass regulator (minus the actual bass regulator).

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Mon May 01, 2006 6:47 pm

Reepicheep wrote:Another giveaway is the presence of the mount and corresponding tube for a bass regulator (minus the actual bass regulator).

Oh yeah... forgot about that.

Kevin Popejoy · Post by **Kevin Popejoy** » Tue May 02, 2006 12:25 pm

tommykleen wrote:What's the giveaway?

Besides what's already been mentioned...just quality issues. The turnings, while of similar layout are no where near his standard. Kirk also does very nice details on his metal work. The inscribed lines aren't even close. Additionally, the radius' on the tubing bends are wrong and the stock isn't close either. The big honking screw on the drone switch post is something else. k

PJ · Post by PJ » Tue May 02, 2006 1:16 pm

Joseph E. Smith wrote:I believe Kirk has changed the turnng of his drones slightly, recent sets I have seen do not look like the Pakistani sets any longer... but I am guessing here, really.

Wasn't the design KL's in the first place? As I understand it, one of these knock-off shops got a hold of a set of his pipes and just copied the design.

Pelham · Post by **Pelham** » Tue May 02, 2006 3:00 pm

I spoke with Kirk about this maybe 6 years ago. He did change his turnings, and He told me then that was at least one of the reasons he changed his turnings was that they copied them. My KL drones (from 2000) have the new turnings on them.

I have a set of these Pakistani drones that I bought some time ago and had them re-worked by Tim Britton while I was waiting on the set I had ordered from Kirk.

I also have a 3/4 set made by Kirk and as you would guess the Pakistani drones are are copied from, but not identical to the Lynch drones. The Lynch drones have a fuller sound and the craftmanship is impeccable.

The Pakistani ones play reasonably well for what they are, but are quieter and don't sound as rich. While the wood turning is fairly well done, the metalwork on my set was a little sloppy - lots of excess solder and the drone shutoff switch is a little large and a bit flimsy.

You get what you pay for.

Cheers,
Pelham

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Tue May 02, 2006 8:13 pm

PJ wrote:
Joseph E. Smith wrote:I believe Kirk has changed the turnng of his drones slightly, recent sets I have seen do not look like the Pakistani sets any longer... but I am guessing here, really.
Wasn't the design KL's in the first place? As I understand it, one of these knock-off shops got a hold of a set of his pipes and just copied the design.

Yes, it was Kirk's design to begin with, I am not disputing that.

Dave Parkhurst · Post by **Dave Parkhurst** » Sat May 06, 2006 12:31 am

Kirk's a new enough maker that his sets haven't lost their identity through the passing of ages...the owners either purchased them from Kirk (like me) or from someone who knows that they are Lynch pipes. eBay is good for some things, but it's always a big caveat emptor when buying musical instruments. Some very reputable makers sell stuff on ebay (ie: Doug Tipple) but you have to know who's who.
Dave