Why does my chanter sound like crap?

[OC Richard]

I should point out that the two extra holes appearing at the bottom of Scottish pipe chanters are also found on a wide variety of woodwinds, both folk and orchestral, both modern and Renaissance.

The general name for these, in normal music circles, is "vent holes".

The term "tone holes" refers to all the holes on an instrument, both the ones which are fingered and the vent holes.

Spanish chanters have three vent holes: the same two as the Highland chanter, and a third one on the back.

Modern "Irish flutes" usually have two vent holes, but in line, on the footjoint.

Bulgarian Kavals have four vent holes, two across like the Highland chanter plus two like modern "Irish flutes".

The reason for the vent holes is that woodwind instrument makers found out long ago (possibly in the Middle Ages) that chanters and flutes sounded better with an extra length to the sounding tube.

Modern silver Boehm flutes are often made with a Low B footjoint, the extra length not only to get that extra low note but also for the improvement on certain very high notes.

About the 'long' practice chanters, yes they're the 'in' thing right now. Who is usually credited with inventing these is pipemaker George Alexander (Isle of Wight, and London). He also started making practice chanters out of plastic, and was a pioneer with plastic practice chanter reeds.

About the very high backpressure/impedance on traditional PCs (due to the extremely narrow bore) I believe that this was intentional, so that the tyro would build up lip strength whilst learning the fingering. The narrow bore and high impedance give traditional PCs their stuffy kazoolike tone.

Gibson long PCs are different, and have a bore and reed more like those of Northumbrian Smallpipes, and have a lower backpressure (that is, are more freeblowing) and have a more open, musical tone.

I just yesterday got a new long McCallum PC in red poly! I love the whimsical colours McCallum is making these in nowadays. This PC is light, feels very comfortable in the hands, and with a Walsh reed gives a pretty good scale.

(Traditionally PCs had their holes drilled more to get the beginner used to keeping his fingers more or less evenly spaced, than to give an in-tune scale. They tended to have the C# and F# a bit flat and High G rather sharp.)

[Ron Abbott]

I remember the first time I saw a long practice chanter must have been circa early 1980s, maybe '81 or '82.
And yes, it was Alexander although the idea was soon copied.
The one I had was a Grainger (as far as I can recall).
I hated it.....nothing wrong with the sound, it was just a pain to sit and practice with.
I couldn't get the sole up on the table and it was just too unwieldy and long. However I had friends back then who swore by them.

I used to also have a 'slightly longer than standard' size practice chanter. The top was the same as a normal practice chanter but the bottom had counter sunk holes and was a just a tad longer (with the holes spaced slightly than apart) than was normal.

Here's one of my practice chanters.

The silver is hallmarked for 1921.
I don't know why it looks so brown in the photo as it's actually quite dark African Blackwood!

[OC Richard]

Here's the new brightly coloured McCallum PCs in various lengths. I bought one yesterday (red, long) and I love it.



Not everyone's cup of tea. I also have a nice ivory mounted PC from the 1950s but it, like most traditional PCs, pitches around Concert B Flat (where the pipes themselves were pitched in the mid-20th century). In the band I have to use a modern 'long' or 'fullsize' PC because everybody else is, and these all are pitching rather lower, around 450 cycles (Concert B Flat is 466 cycles).

As PCs have been moving down in pitch, the pipe chanters have been moving up, from around 466 in the 1960s to around 482 today.

About long PCs being problematic, I find the opposite. For one thing, the fact that they have vent holes means that the bottom can be rested on a leg. About not being able to play while sitting at a table, yes, if the chair is low and/or the table is high and/or the piper is short. I have no trouble, given a table and chair of ordinary height.

BTW here is what two ordinary Gibson long PCs, with Gibson plastic reeds, sound like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4lw8-3Jf9w

[Ron Abbott]

Wow....not much more I can say to that photo!!

McCallums have done it again! I haven't seen one of these before. Thanks for posting.

McCallums certainly have a reputation for customer service that is second to none and seem to push the design thing out a fair bit.

I bought a set of their pipe chanters some years back and although there was nothing wrong with the quality or sound, the holes were big, oval shaped things and I didn't like them. Later you could also buy their chanters with good ol' rounder type holes but I was too late! Lesson learnt.

[OC Richard]

the holes were big, oval shaped things and I didn't like them. Later you could also buy their chanters with good ol' rounder type holes

Several of the bands around here were playing those McCallum chanters with the huge oval holes, including the Los Angeles Scottish Grade One. The bands I played in used them. I never had any problem fingering them, personally. These chanters played very well with Ross reeds.

The LA Scots and a few other local bands (including the one I play in) have switched to the newer McCallum band chanters with the round holes. These new chanters are extremely loud and sharp (just what you need for competition!) and are easier to finger. Pitching to 485 is no problem! The best thing about these chanters is the far more stable D. As soon as we switched our tone was better while playing tunes in the key of D such as Castle Dangerous, Amazing Grace, and so forth. We're using Megarity reeds, and had Wee Stevie come down to one of our practices to fit each chanter with a great reed.

[chasem]

BTW here is what two ordinary Gibson long PCs, with Gibson plastic reeds, sound like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4lw8-3Jf9w

I'm so glad you posted that! I've been trying to remember who it was that did this. I love tat sound/idea and had been thinking about whether I could duplicate it. I seem to recall you posted somewhere the process through which you went to make this happen, but couldn't recall where. Mind if I ask what was required?

[OC Richard]

It's just two ordinary Gibson long PCs with certain holes plugged.

The hole configuration is

o ooo xxxo
x xxx oooo

o= open hole
x= plugged hole

In other words each hand has its own chanter, and when using ordinary Highland fingering one chanter or the other is always playing Low A giving a 'virtual drone'.

The special double stock was made by New Zealand piper/pipemaker Yuri Terenyi. Yuri also made the blowpipe and bag, but any bag and blowpipe would do. It's the double chanter stock that's the main thing.

[chasem]

It's just two ordinary Gibson long PCs with certain holes plugged.

The hole configuration is

o ooo xxxo
x xxx oooo

o= open hole
x= plugged hole

In other words each hand has its own chanter, and when using ordinary Highland fingering one chanter or the other is always playing Low A giving a 'virtual drone'.

The special double stock was made by New Zealand piper/pipemaker Yuri Terenyi. Yuri also made the blowpipe and bag, but any bag and blowpipe would do. It's the double chanter stock that's the main thing.

So if I were interested in duplicating the setup, is it safe to say the simplest route would be to contact Mr. Terenyi for the bag and blowpipe?

[OC Richard]

Yes, here he is

http://www.wood-n-bone.co.nz/bagpipes.html

The most important thing to have Yuri make is the special double stock. I had him make the bag too, because a stock that big won't fit into the neck of an ordinary bag. And since he was making the bag and chanter stock I had him do the blowpipe too, though any ordinary Scottish (or non-Scottish) blowpipe would probably work fine.

I sent Yuri the size of the tenons on the Gibson PCs and he make the stock accordingly.

[chasem]

Gotcha, appreciate the info!



Sorry for shifting off-topic, Bren