Just not cricket...

[JerseyLawyer]

I was surfing around today and saw this, the Saul Bagpipe Tuner System.

I don't know how well the thing works, but I daresay, as the title of this thread says, it's just not cricket.

Now if only the blasted thing could play for you, too.

[KenB]

Tune the pipes? Now, why would you want to do such a thing. I thought they were good-to-go right from the factory floor.

[JerseyLawyer]

Tune the pipes? Now, why would you want to do such a thing. I thought they were good-to-go right from the factory floor.

Nah, you tune them once, then superglue the drones in place, then you're good to go.

Obviously, my point was more that using a machine is somehow cheating. :P

[EagleJCS]

I think it could be useful in situations where you didn't have anyone else to help you tune (e.g. your instructor or another piper), especially when is has to be just right - when playng with other instruments, when playing at an auspicious public performance, etc.

I think for most players it's overkill. Part of learning to play just about any instrument is learning how to tune one's own instrument (piano is a noted exception, though it's good to know how to tune those as well, at least in general). In band situations, the Pipe Major and/or Pipe Sergeant (or a designee) will tune you to the band's pitch-of-the-day, so you don't have as much to worry about.

[ohiopiper]

I admit to using a tuner, but think that a dedicated (and expensive) bagpipe tuner is indeed overkill. I use a Korg chromatic to tune the octave on the chanter, then set my drones accordingly. Periodically I dig out my diagram of where the notes are to be in relation to zero and adjust my chanter tape. This, incidentally, is what the Saul tuner is all about. It shows "zero" for each note, not sharp or flat to the "normal" music scale.

I've never used one, frankly never even seen one. But I have seen a few posts from people on the Bob Dunsire forum that seem to like them.

[SteveB]

I have one of those Saul tuners.

The tuner allows me to tune to a specific frequency before heading out to a performance. A fine tuning with the band is of course performed before we go on stage. The pick up microphone wires get unplugged from the tuner and plugged into my transmitter for the sound system. The sound mixer is able to balance the level of my pipes (LOUD) with the inputs from the lead guitar(soft) and the Drum kit, Bass, keyboards, and two stave drummers into our desired output to the audience and to the recording of CDs. This is not Highland piping, but piping for a far more modern musical experience.

As ohiopiper stated, it is great for "zero-ing" out the notes on the chanter, as well as detecting weaknesses on individual drone reeds.

I have no real use for it during traditional solo piping. It is valuable for multi-musician events.

Slainte