Why does my chanter sound like crap?

[PiperOfThePlains]

Like many others have put here, I, too, own one of these chanters. The are most certainly of Pakistani origin; and, although usable (I use this term loosely), are hardly any good for firewood.

If you're serious about piping, I would strongly recommend a Shepherd, McCallum, or Dunbar chanter, with a Shepherd or Dunbar reed. (I started on the Dunbar Millennium 2000 chanter.) As far as what to look for in a quality PC, always go with the long one. "Regular" or "Child's" size practice chanters are only hurting you in the long run. A long PC (About 20/22" long) will better prepare your fingers for a full size pipe chanter.

You should be blowing enough to keep the chanter going; but not too hard as if to kill (stop) the reed, nor too soft to make it, as said above, like a duck call. Keeping the mouthpiece comfortable in your lips is incredibly difficult on a chanter. They make them to be too small, casing the piper to use more muscle power to keep it sealed.

If you are interested in lessons, PM me and I can get you set up my instructor for Skype lessons.

I hope this helps!

EDIT: I notice you're using an Abbot reed. These take a lot of air to operate, which may be the cause of your frustration.

[Ron Abbott]

Like many others have put here, I, too, own one of these chanters. The are most certainly of Pakistani origin; and, although usable (I use this term loosely), are hardly any good for firewood.

If you're serious about piping, I would strongly recommend a Shepherd, McCallum, or Dunbar chanter, with a Shepherd or Dunbar reed. (I started on the Dunbar Millennium 2000 chanter.) As far as what to look for in a quality PC, always go with the long one. "Regular" or "Child's" size practice chanters are only hurting you in the long run. A long PC (About 20/22" long) will better prepare your fingers for a full size pipe chanter.

You should be blowing enough to keep the chanter going; but not too hard as if to kill (stop) the reed, nor too soft to make it, as said above, like a duck call. Keeping the mouthpiece comfortable in your lips is incredibly difficult on a chanter. They make them to be too small, casing the piper to use more muscle power to keep it sealed.

If you are interested in lessons, PM me and I can get you set up my instructor for Skype lessons.

I hope this helps!

EDIT: I notice you're using an Abbot reed. These take a lot of air to operate, which may be the cause of your frustration.

I disagree. The whole hype about long practice chanters being better is nothing more than hype. I had one for some time and absolutely hated it. Difficult to put it on the table when practicing and it did nothing to help my fingering. I know many others who got into the same 'fad' and later gave up on it. Did not prepare my fingers in any way or form for a pipe chanter, it merely caused frustration.

Get a good standard size blackwood or even poly practice chanter from a reputable maker. Several good makers have been mentioned on the forum already.....although I'm surprised that Sinclair hasn't been mentioned. Not sure if Brian is back in business (on either side of the pond) but Inveran also produces a high end product.

[Jack Daw]

In learning piobaireachd, I purchased a few of CDs of Pipe Major Donald MacLeod's Classic Collection of Piobaireachd Tutorials, which features piobaireachd in canntaireachd, on practice chanter, and with oral instruction. Frankly, I prefer recordings of real pipes, cmpared to the practice chanter, as a means of entertainment.

[TheOfficialBren]

I have a question. I saw a practice chanter on that bidding site with two holes perpendicular to the fingering holes but below them. What are these holes? I've never seen them on any other chanter before.

I bid on it before I noticed them and have since been outbid. Pity. The price was right and cash is short.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181441825804

[Ron Abbott]

That's the bottom half of what appears to be a 'long' practice chanter. The top part is missing!

In fact at first I thought it was a pipe chanter until I noted the smaller counter-sunk fingering holes.

The two holes you refer to are tone holes.

So don't worry, you don't have to use your toes (or any other body part ) on them because you've run out of fingers!

They're there to help get the required tone.

But if you almost bought that, I'd respectively suggest that you ask someone who knows what they're doing because if you had bought that, you'd need to go and source/buy a top afterwards.

I'm not a fan of these long practice chanters, although there are many pipers who swear by them.

I far prefer the standard sized practice chanters.

You should be able to get a brand new blackwood practice chanter for around 80 GBP+ or thereabouts or a delrin/polypenco one for about 30 GBP+.

There are a number of used ones on ebay. Here's one:=

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bagpipes-Hen...item1c420cb2fb


Here's an advert on ebay for a basic, brand new, plastic one:-

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wallace-Plas...item1c41ba1849

[hag]

Their called the sound holes, if you cover one or both holes it changes the tone when playing the chanter. I seen the picture where is the mouth piece that goes on top? Be careful, what you see is what you get in the picture the chanter without the mouth piece.
hag

[TheOfficialBren]

I saw that. I was just goint to use the top of my current chanter but in retrospect I was very glad that I was outbid. I jumped the gun and almost wasted money! My chanter top might not have fit.

So...if I see those holes again I shouldn't freak about it.

Is this feature a mark of a good chanter?

I've noticed that the counter-sunk holes tend to be seen on nicer chanters.

Maybe one or some of our experienced pipers can start a sticky thread titled "Your Practise Chanter and You"?

[Ron Abbott]

No you don't need to freak out and in fact, the majority of practice chanters don't even have them.

As for counter sunk holes, some do and some don't....it's just a personal preference thing.

To some they make it feel more like you are playing a pipe chanter, as the holes on a pipe chanter are significantly bigger than those on a practice chanter......but I've not found the to be of any real benefit. To me they just feel like......counter sunk holes!!

It's not necessarily a matter of quality.

I have a 1921 hallmarked, silver mounted practice chanter which has been in the family for at least 60 if not 70 years and it originally had counter sunk holes. The bottom part has since been disposed off and replaced with a regular bottom part. Purely a matter of my own personal preference.

One other thing that I'll mention is that I used to have a delrin/poly practice for my son and the thing I did not like about it was that the edge/rim of the holes were fairly sharp.

Certainly not finger cutting sharp (!!) but sharper than any wooden chanter I've played. Maybe it was a one off, I don't know. A bit of mild sanding took care of the issue.