Jay - I have been toying with the 2-tunings-on-one-instrument approach for a little while now, and finally fell back on the conclusion that each tuning needs its own instrument, and I need to drag 2 gurdies around whenever I play (be it a session, dance or concert). There are just too many compromises involved in setting up one instrument to play in both tunings, and the resulting Frankengurdy ends up with too many strings and gadgets or else missing certain features I like in one tuning or the other. Just one player's opinion, but that's where I've ended up. Hope that's useful feedback. Just be glad you don't also play melodeon and French bagpipe (each requiring separate G/C and D/G instruments as well)!! Mitch Gordon Guerneville, California, US p.s. NEVER speak of your C/G as your "primary instrument" in the presence of your D/G...the latter will not forgive you, especially if it has carved wooden tangents. [email protected] writes:
Is it generally acceptable to tune a chanter up a whole step, or does that put too much tension on the instrument? Here’s my situation. I currently own a lovely D/G instrument, but I have a C/G being built that I imagine will be my primary instrument. One of my goals is to play with a piper, and during a performance, it would be nice to be able to change keys without changing instruments – especially as my D/G is “old-school” (as the kids say) with wooden tangents that require frequent touch-ups. My piper friend has a beautiful set up Uillean pipes with chanters in both C and D but at the moment, his only regulator set is in D. He also has a set of small pipes in concert A. (For the record, he is primarily a player of the Great Highland Pipes, but I don’t dare try to play along with that beast of an instrument. The tuning alone would drive me mad). SO; The String setup that I am getting on the new instrument is: chanters c / g / g´ trumpets g / c´ / d´ drones C / G / d I imagine that it will be easy to capo the drones and trompettes accordingly, but what to do about the c chanter in a d tune and the g chanter in an a tune? I am a pianist, so I’m relatively comfortable working my way around sharps and flats, and playing with an open c string also gives me the advantage of having the 7th below the low d (which is common on many Highland pipe tunes). However; I imagine that there might be some interval/intonation issues there, and of course, it would be much more physically comfortable to play these (mostly diatonic) melodies on an open d string. I have the same question regarding tuning the g chanter up to an a. I appreciate any thoughts on the subject. Jay -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster.
