It’s about time for a summary on where the set is right now.
I’ve played this set in seven US states, and two Irish counties, in the mountains and at sea level, in the desert and near the ocean. I’ve played it (poorly) in front of dozens of other pipers, many of whom have tried it out. It’s gotten nods of approval from some big name Uilleann pipers, whose names I am not going to drop. Almost universally, everybody immediately understands the value of an affortable set for beginning players.
While many reeds I’ve tried in my chanter play quite sharp, the chanter was perfectly in tune using the reeds and chanter a friend made in the NPU pipemaking classes. This means NPU’s pipemaking class reeds and chanters are compatible with my chanter, and with the reeds and chanters David Daye makes. I suspect this is evidence that all three designs are based on Rowsome chanters. The Rowsome chanters have a reputation of being sharp: maybe everything else is flat.
Overall the thing plays at this point, and it plays pretty well. For the first time in three years I’ve got an instrument that works well enough that I can start practicing. Unfortunately, three years designing the instrument doesn’t translate to being a better player.
Things I want to improve
- I keep cutting myself on the bellows frames, I need to rethink that design
- I’ve got the frames stuck together with duct tape, which doesn’t look awesome, but maybe that’s okay.
- I’d like to make some cuffs so I can stop using tenon and switch to tying in stocks with zip ties. The cuffs will prevent the zip tie edges from cutting into the leather/vinyl/TPU.
- I’m planning to switch over to rubber O rings instead of thread: it’s all around a better way to make the seal, and you still can use thread with the O ring design if you just love thread.
- Printing at 100% infill is a disaster. I get a ton of internal stringing, but even after that’s reamed out, it’s still sharp as heck and awful. Probably this is an issue with the settings for the filament I’m using. Hopefully this isn’t an indication that the chanter will only work on my printer, with my filament, at 15% infill.
- I need to make an assembly manual with lots of photos. This is another great big undertaking, and may even require building a little photo studio.
- At some point, I need to take this thing over to Dublin and show it to someone at NPU. I am so scared of doing this!