For the rest of the argument I would suggest Rory do a little less roaring and a bit more reading. First of all I said Geoff wouldn't agree with Patrick's assessment. I know he doesn't so there's no argument there. So where did I begrudge Patrick the right to his own opinion? Exactly. I didn't. And, for the record, don't. Whether or not I agree with him is another matter. One I didn't bring into this discussion so far.
What I said after that initial statement was:
The Harrington is still able to yield more and certainly different nuances and colours than Geoff's C chanters. As I said, he's close but his chanters are different. And that was the main point I was making, he's making Wooff C chanters, not Harringtons
Now if Rory wants to argue those points, that's fine. We can. If Rory is unable or unwilling to go beyond a spate of name calling and giving out about things that weren't actually said, there's little more to say.
But maybe I should expand on the 'casual onlooker' thing a bit.
The way I look at it, you need to spend a good bit of time with a chanter to be able to 'know' it. To notice the differences between individual chanters that share characteristics, you will need to sit down and play each and look at what it does in detail, try different fingerings, combinations of fingering and vibrato, on or off the knee, explore the different harmonic content you get doing that, how much tonal colouring the chanter gives you. You may find that beyond your first impression, a casual play of the chanter in question, there are things one chanter does that the other doesn't do, or not in the same manner.
When subjected to an examination like this Geoff's Harrington C chanter will still do a few things differently than Geoff's own chanters will. And a few things that Geoff's chanters may not do at all on top of that. That's how Geoff himself feels about it after all the years of close exploration of the Harrington and his own attempts at understanding the knowledge and craftsmanship Denis Harrington put into that chanter.
That is Geoff's informed opinion, which he invariably expressed during the many times we discussed the subject over a very long period of time. And Geoff values the Harrington more for it than he does his own chanters. He feels Denis Harrington has a few secrets to give up yet. If you, Rory, think that's an arrogant approach to take, well, take it up with him. I am sure he'll give you an opinion.
Too feckin early in the morning for this sort of malarkey. If it's going to be a shouting match each time I say something, I'll be done again in no time at all. And you can sit there whining about people who won't join the discussions here and spend your time wondering why that was again.
