Grainger/Campbell pipes
Bagpiip
Thanks,
Bill
Mar a bha, mar a tha,
mar a bhitheas gu brath,
ri traghadh's ri lionadh.
Chris Hamilton
>Anyone have an opinion of 70's vintage Grainger/Campbell's?
I've heard them described by one very famous piper as "the worst pipes
ever made in Scotland". My own experiences have been mixed.
My first set of pipes were 1972 Grainger & Campbell, full ivory ...
cost $300 US at the time. About the heaviest thickest wood you've
ever seen. Heavier in overall weight than some silver/ivory sets by
other makers.
Chanter sucked of course, as with all Graingers. Drones were not bad,
not great (took me through the top of Grade 1 in the late 1970s).
Bass had an uneven bore in the middle joint. Looked like an oval when
you looked through it. The bass tuned very low on the pin
(characteristic of Graingers in general). But in the mid-1980s Jack
Dunbar made a new proper middle joint and transformed it into a pretty
fair set of pipes.
They are still in use by my fiancee (she just started competing in
Grade 4 this year), and coupled with my 1985 Sinclair chanter put out
a good sound. They're a damned sight better than her 1987 Kintails.
I played them meself recently at a gig when my <expletive deleted>
Ross bag tore the afternoon before the show, and I was quite pleased
with their tone and steadiness. They weren't The Mighty MacDougalls,
but not bad. I'd not be afraid to play them in the Open in a pinch.
(remember a lot of it is in the reed setup and the blowing)
I've heard some really really good sets of Graingers (Ed Krintz had a
fine silver/ivory set) and some run-o-the-mill stuff. In general,
they're not real highly regarded.
The original chanter, by the way, didn't survive long. When I was a
wee laddie of 11, I removed it from the stock by that nifty white
"handle" on the bottom ... d'oh ... I still have the lovely ivory sole
and am looking for a chanter to put it on!
In other news ...
Sheep has returned to my life. Got an L&M swan-neck, small 10.5" bag.
Took some getting used to the small bag, but I'm lovin' it. Why did I
abandon the Ross? Too much fussin' ... the sheepskin with a water
trap was pretty much season-it-and-forgetaboutit.
I've been playing around with a new Kintail chanter I got on eval
recently ... so far I'm impressed, but time will tell. Hell's bells,
maybe I'll even get with the program and buy a Naill. Does that mean
my love affair with Gibson is over? No, just searching for that edge.
I also had the opportunity recently to try out some various types of
drone reeds, in the interest of blowing in some "hot spares" for
emergency use. I tried Ezee Drone, and cane, and some other
synthetics. Frankly, my tried-n-true Cairns/Indian reeds had but one
sentence to say to the pretenders ... "U can't touch this" ... geez
not even in the same league.
Chris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Hamilton -- Tone...@erols.com
City of Washington Pipe Band
http://www.serve.com/cowpb/chamilton.html
Royce Lerwick
wrote:
Ditto on my experience with the Graingers.
>I've been playing around with a new Kintail chanter I got on eval
>recently ... so far I'm impressed, but time will tell. Hell's bells,
>maybe I'll even get with the program and buy a Naill. Does that mean
>my love affair with Gibson is over? No, just searching for that edge.
What's your impression of the wood--density etc. Particularly, what's
the deal with wall thickness. I tried one a year ago and it was paper
thin. Sharpe didn't seem to be concerned with it but mine exploded.
Royce
Chris Hamilton
You mean literally exploded? Well I gave one blackwood Kintail to
Mike Green to try out. His first "rocket-propelled birl" might just
shatter it too.
It is very very thin. It feels great in the hands though. Have you
seen the new Shepherd. Apparently designed to stop bullets ...
Interesting how the interior bore at the bottom of the Kintail flares
very dramatically outward. Compare it to a Shepherd or Gibson or
something. Different.
Royce Lerwick
wrote:
>You mean literally exploded? Well I gave one blackwood Kintail to
>Mike Green to try out. His first "rocket-propelled birl" might just
>shatter it too.
My own theory is I was playing it heavily for a few weeks right off
the lathe, then I had to put it away for a week for a seminar with
Mathieson, in which I thought I should get better acqainted with the
band chanter for a while since that's what I'd be playing all weekend.
It was winter and about 17 percent humidity where we had the seminar,
and on the second day I was taking it out of the dummy stock with the
intention of asking Mathieson's opinion on the pitch, when I heard the
skritching sound like wood fibers rubbing together and had the feeling
of eggshells crushing underneath my pinkie--which rests about the E
hole when I grip the head of the chanter. In any case, there was a
lengthy crack down the holes that had spread about 1/16" and by the
end of the day had spread even more. The wood on that side of the wall
was literally paper thin, as the inside bore was eccentric to the
outside, and as you say, the walls were very thin anyway.
I don't know, I send Sharpe a lengthy critique but I don't know what
he did about it. And he still has my chanter.
>It is very very thin. It feels great in the hands though. Have you
>seen the new Shepherd. Apparently designed to stop bullets ...
>
>Interesting how the interior bore at the bottom of the Kintail flares
>very dramatically outward. Compare it to a Shepherd or Gibson or
>something. Different.
Yes, and at least on the two I've played that last reamer is hairy as
hell on the wood. In any case, that flare puts a very unusual, softer
tone on the low G.
Royce
Chris Hamilton
Mine are smooth-as-glass inside, and as far as I can tell, bored well.
I'm looking forward to trying it out some more.
Robert Low
Bagpiip wrote in message <19990528221143...@ng-ce1.aol.com>...
>Anyone have an opinion of 70's vintage Grainger/Campbell's?
>Bill
>Mar a bha, mar a tha,
>mar a bhitheas gu brath,
>ri traghadh's ri lionadh.
I have a set of 75 Graingers. I've not used the chanter since I started
playing in a band 22 years ago - it's way too flat and dull. The drones are
quite heavy but give a good tone and set against my current chanter - a
Naill - they sound OK. The difficulty I have is in finding reeds to give me
a decent tuning position on the slide.
If I were competing solo again I would probably look for another set of
drones - but as I've had these since I was a small boy I'm rather fond of
them in a strange way.
Bob
Stuart Hall
>Mine are smooth-as-glass inside, and as far as I can tell, bored well.
>I'm looking forward to trying it out some more.
>
>Chris
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Chris Hamilton -- Tone...@erols.com
You know, this is something we ALL look for (myself included): shiny bores.
I don't think that's necessarily a good thing. Of course, the way
chanters/pipes are made now, it tends to be an indication of good
craftsmanship. However, "classic" examples of nearly every wind
instrument I can think of (flutes and uilleann chanters, to name two) have
relatively "complicated" bores, including little ditzels/roughspots/narrow
spots/etc. The bores of my 1790-ish MacDonalds isn't "perfect" by any
means, and they sound better than any set I've ever heard.
Stuart
--
Stuart Hall
(stu...@swbell.net)
Please note my NEW email address!
Dave Reaville
said they are big pieces of blackwood! These are not a long parade set of
pipes as they are quite heavy. They sound pretty good, however the 1982
Hardies (that I have been playing) and the 1940 something Robertson's (my
wife's) sound better!! I would agree that with a proper drone set up these
would be more than acceptable for the majority of players, and they look
good too.
Dave
Chris Hamilton wrote in message <374f78d...@news.erols.com>...
>On 29 May 1999 02:11:43 GMT, bag...@aol.com (Bagpiip) wrote:
>
alex_...@my-deja.com
"Robert Low" <Rober...@tesco.net> wrote:
>
> Bagpiip wrote in message <19990528221143.18129.00004680@ng-
ce1.aol.com>...
>
> I have a set of 75 Graingers. I've not used the chanter since I
started
> playing in a band 22 years ago - it's way too flat and dull. The
drones are
> quite heavy but give a good tone and set against my current chanter -
a
> Naill - they sound OK. The difficulty I have is in finding reeds to
give me
> a decent tuning position on the slide.
>
> If I were competing solo again I would probably look for another set
of
> drones - but as I've had these since I was a small boy I'm rather
fond of
> them in a strange way.
>
> Bob
>
>I know whayt you mean about tuning position on the drones! Its a
constant struggle, I keep tuning off the pins. (That problem has
recently been corrected by some new, not commercially available drone
reeds) But other than that, I have to say I've been quite happy with my
Grainger and Campbell drones, I have a set from the early 70s. The
chanter, of course, is totally useless, I play a Kron now.
Alex
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