What is a Rowsome Style Chanter

[Brus]

Rowsomewhat

Rowsomesque

[PJ]

Rowsomesque

Strangely enough, I'd use "Rowsomesque" to describe the look of a set, rather than the internal design, particularly to distinguish it from Taylor(esque). It would suggest a certain style of mount on the chanter, as well as "tear-drop" regulator keys (as opposed to "fiddle" keys or "ribbon" keys).

[Murk]

Interesting! I wasn't expecting to hear that 'Rowsome' basically referred to a wide bore D chanter, in so many words. The pipe maker I was talking to seemed particularly proud of the tone and responsiveness of his new design - and when I asked this I was wondering if this quality comes part and parcel with the "Rowsome Style".

[andymay]

I guess that your maker therefore feels his new design to be very close to an original Rowsome chanter in terms of design and also sound. In my opinion that can only be a good thing!!!

For many people, myself included, a good Rowsome chanter is really the Holy Grail of concert pitch pipes in terms of tone!!

[rorybbellows]

For many people, myself included, a good Rowsome chanter is really the Holy Grail of concert pitch pipes in terms of tone!!

Is there any clips on youtube that you could link us to that you would consider a good example of the Rowsome tone.

RORY

[bensdad]

Just look up Benedict Koehler.
Granted, his tone is not dictated solely by his Rowsome chanter, but my his reedmaking skill, and his thirty+ years of learning how to produce tone.
The result is simply beautiful.

[PJ]

Or you could listen to one of the many recordings of Leo Rowsome, playing his Leo Rowsome set. That's probably the best example of the Rowsome tone.

[andymay]

[quote Is there any clips on youtube that you could link us to that you would consider a good example of the Rowsome tone.

RORY[/quote]

Hi Rory, there must be a load on Youtube, i think the sound of Benedict's chanter is a great example, or O'Flynn or Maloney. Of course not all Rowsome chanters sound the same, and conversely there must be chanters by other makers which have a very similar character, i guess it's kind of a personal thing what the phrase 'Rowsome tone' means to you.

http://pipers.ie/source/media/?galleryI ... iaId=25862

But i guess Gay McKeon's set here would be a good example of the sound in MY head! The tone is full and strong in both octaves, the back D is bright and reedy but not at odds with the rest of the chanter, the vibrato available is warm or nasal depending on the fingering, there's a certain wildness around the C note….. Hard to describe in words but for me that sound is pretty much all i could want in a concert pitch chanter.

Cheers
A

[Tom_S]

The tone is full and strong in both octaves, the back D is bright and reedy but not at odds with the rest of the chanter, the vibrato available is warm or nasal depending on the fingering, there's a certain wildness around the C note…..

What a great way to describe a chanter

[KJM]

The tone is full and strong in both octaves, the back D is bright and reedy but not at odds with the rest of the chanter, the vibrato available is warm or nasal depending on the fingering, there's a certain wildness around the C note…..

What a great way to describe a chanter

Especially great considering the schematics for that set are available from NPU!

[pancelticpiper]

I hope this post finds you relaxed and sipping a beverage.

Yes indeed! A café mocha.

realized something... there are different styles of chanter engineering.

And different styles of reed engineering too!

The way it was all explained to me, by an old hand when I first got into piping back in the 70s, is like this (more or less). He was an excellent reedmaker and was dismayed at all the new chanters people were bringing to him that didn't work right:

"Say you have a guy that wants to get into pipemaking. He borrows a great-playing vintage chanter to copy, made by one of the old masters. He copies it as best he can, but when he sticks one of his reeds in it he discovers problems. This might be due to the fact that the style of reed he learned to make is a style developed for a different sort of chanter... but he's unaware. So he starts changing the chanter to suit his reeds- might shorten or lengthen or change the bore or change the holes or all of the above. Finally he arrives at something that works pretty well, and his chanters get a good reputation.

Then an even newer pipemaker comes along and copies one of HIS chanters (rather than going to the original source) but again needs to tinker with the design to get it to work.

This process is endlessly repeated meaning that some of the chanters one encounters are several generations removed from anything that worked REALLY well."

My own chanter, a Quinn from the 1970s, is supposed to be a faithful copy of a particular Rowsome original. (Later David was making copies of Liam O Flynn's Rowsome, but mine predates these "Quinn O Flynns".

There's a guy who has made quite exacting copies of originals, Michael Hubbert. A great reedmaker told me that he switched the same reed between the original old chanter Michael copied, and one of Michael's copies, and it performed identically.

[myles]

It would be a very interesting exercise to draw up a 'family tree' of chanter designs (internal) of all current makers. Anyone tried something like this?

[benoit trémolières]

All I discovered about reeds is due to the fact that I was convinced the chanter I'm copying CAN works well.
I always refused to change anything of the original design.
Since it's working better and better,it lasts for know nearly twenty years I'm looking for the perfect reed...

[rorybbellows]

The way it was all explained to me, by an old hand when I first got into piping back in the 70s, is like this (more or less). He was an excellent reedmaker and was dismayed at all the new chanters people were bringing to him that didn't work right:

"Say you have a guy that wants to get into pipemaking. He borrows a great-playing vintage chanter to copy, made by one of the old masters. He copies it as best he can, but when he sticks one of his reeds in it he discovers problems. This might be due to the fact that the style of reed he learned to make is a style developed for a different sort of chanter... but he's unaware. So he starts changing the chanter to suit his reeds- might shorten or lengthen or change the bore or change the holes or all of the above. Finally he arrives at something that works pretty well, and his chanters get a good reputation.

Then an even newer pipemaker comes along and copies one of HIS chanters (rather than going to the original source) but again needs to tinker with the design to get it to work.

This process is endlessly repeated meaning that some of the chanters one encounters are several generations removed from anything that worked REALLY well."
.

That is one way of looking at it ,but in a way, a rather negative one. To put it in a positive way and I would think the more realistic way, is that a pipemaker copies a great Rowsome chanter but notices that it is not playing very well at concert pitch or the tuning of some notes is out or it takes some oddly shaped staple to get it to play well. So the pipemaker cures these problems and you have a better chanter that is easier to reed. Case in point Mick O'Brien's concert pitch Rowsome / Froment chanter. It is the RB theory of chanter evolution. The best pipemakers are going to copy the best chanters and improve them and these are the ones that pipers will buy and get copied in the future. The future of concert pitch pipes are sweet toned,easy to play ,easy to reed pipes that are easy on the ear. Forget NBD pipes which is like taking the engine out of a Ferrari and replacing it with one from a lawnmower, good CP pipes are full bodied with balls. IMHO

RORY

[Driftwood]

Forget NBD pipes which is like taking the engine out of a Ferrari and replacing it with one from a lawnmower, good CP pipes are full bodied with balls. IMHO

Hmm (or maybe vrroom) ...I've got an old lawnmower with a Briggs & Stratton - one oil change in 33 years. I guess it's proved a darn site more reliable than any Ferrari. Then again, Telecasters sound nice but just because they can sound louder than a classical guitar doesn't mean they are better.