1] First and foremost, the holes are the same size & spacing as a great pipe chanter!. The outside taper of the instrument is the same as a regular pipe chanter as well. This allows for the exact feel and response of the regular pipe chanter. Many practice chanters have chamfered holes, but with the full size holes, all of your practice and work on gracenoting is virtually the same as time spent on the pipes. You will notice a particular improvement in your lower hand gracenoting eg: burls and grips, and hardly any change-over when you go from chanter to pipes.

2] The chanter is tunable to a range from concert B-flat to 25± cents sharp. This means you can play along with recordings of the pipes or with regular practice chanters and still be in pitch. As you know, the pitch of practice chanters is all over the map these days, so you will find that this chanters pitch is a refreshing return to the standard.

3] The chanter is competitively priced in both Delrin® and Blackwood, with a traditional sole on the bottom and a metal ferrule on the chanter top. Back in 1977 we were the pioneers of the “O” ring joint as an improvement over the traditional hemped one, and the Delrin® model incorporates this feature. See desc. under standard PC’s

4] The bore/finger hole relationship makes this chanter fairly reed specific. We strongly recommend using the Jake Watson, Wygent, the Colin MacClellan, or the Hain practice chanter reeds to realize the chanters full tonal capabilities. Many of the other reeds on the market will sound sharp on the bottom unless you install the “Reed Tuning Plug Kit”. This kit consists of 2 tunable plugs and 2 simple installation tools. One plug is for the bottom of the bore to tune Low G, the other fits in the Low A hole -below where you can feel - to tune it.

It does have its own distinctive tone, - not as bright as our standard practice chanter- and it blends well with Smallpipe drones. This idiosyncrasy which some may term a defect, is more than offset by its advantages of full size holes and great pipe chanter spacing. You have to work a bit harder to get clean fingering on this chanter compared to our standard practice chanter, because it’s easier to sound good with the small finger holes found on regular practice chanters . However, if you spend a lot of time on a standard chanter, you will likely find that when you go to the ‘pipes, you don’t have quite the facility that you had on the chanter. With our Full Size Chanter you will find it at first harder to play, but once over that hump, you’ll find going back anf forth between the chanter and the pipes to be a very pleasing experience. We think you will find that regular practice on our Full Size Practice Chanter a real asset in improving your fingering, and in getting more out of your chanter practice whether you are a novice or an advanced player.

We are so confident that you will like our chanter, that we give you a satisfaction guarantee as to its performance. Includes an extra “O” ring.

Full Size Practice Chanter

#1PC –DF Delrin® $75.00

#1PC-AB African Blackwood $145.00

#1PC-AB/D African Blackwood w/ Delrin top $130.00

#1PC-DF Delrin Qty. Discounts: 6-11pcs $71.50, 12-35pcs $67.75

Reed TuningPlug Kit $7.50

Elkhorn Sole Add $35.00

Silver Ferrule on chanter top Add $45.00

Silver Ferrule under mouthpiece and/or at base of chanter above sole Add $30.00 each

brass lined antler mouthpiece w/ white delrin tip Add $40.00

brass lined chanter top Add $60.00

St. Andrew’s knot plaque [by Walker Metalsmiths] Add $80.00

Tested reeds- [not included with chanter- Murphy’s law says you should have 2!] $6.50

S&H insured -Delrin:$6.00 A/B:$7.50 [extra insurance required for silverwork]

GO TO:

Full Size Practice Chanter Information Sheet

[we send this out with the chanter]

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Standard Practice Chanter

Perfectly matched for pitch and tone, made of unbreakable Delrin®, with the original “O” ring joint that eliminates the need for hemp The original Cushing chanter was developed in 1977 to answer the need for a good, dependable instrument that was well tuned and affordable. Our recently redesigned chanter - in addition to these previous qualities - now has a more traditional, tapered, one piece body. To keep down costs it has no ferrule or sole. It is still widely accepting of different reed patterns, and has a pleasing, bright tone. Depending on reeding, it can play from concert B-flat To 30 cents sharp of B-flat.

The 1/2” OD - 3/8” ID “O” rings are a standard hardware store item and should be lubricated periodically with waterproof plumbers grease [ Vaseline will do as a second choice]. For long term storage or infrequent playing the two halves should be stored unassembled, as over time the grease will migrate from the joint, making it very difficult to remove. We think that you will find the Cushing practice chanter to be comfortable to play and to have a pleasing tone. Includes an extra “O” ring.

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#2PC-DF Standard practice Chanter Delrin® $45.00

Quantity Discounts: 6-11pcs $42.50, 12+pcs $40.25

Tested reeds- [not included with chanter] $6.50

S&H insured - $5.00