I've played a colin kyo for years now. Last competition I was at, I had a reed death the day before. I was able to plug a new reed in, and it needed no tape for tuning. I went to the competition and only needed to add tape for piob high g on the second day. I walked away from the competition with the aggregate 1st, mainly because my instrument was so easy to tune all I had to do was move my fingers
Great review. I got an ABW Colin Kyo chanter a few years ago, and I honestly don't think I'd ever want to play any other chanter now. As you said yourself, it's a joy to play!
Great video, Matt. I play a complete Colin Kyo set up, ABW drones and chanter, and love it. Chris Apps and G1 chanter reeds work the best for me. I wish I had a set of pipes like these back when I was young and competing. The drones lock on after a few minutes of playing like MacDougall's but have the big drone sound of Old Lawries.
Got one last year and love it. Very sweet and crisp. I play a early 50's set of Hendersons and had an old Tweedie that I thought sounded great but now when I swap back it sounds dead and soft in comparison. Wish I had one of the Kyo laminated chanters.
Murray is a gentleman and Kyo chanters are great. I am surprised to see so many commenters also do well with a G1 reed. Maybe it's my climate, but in Oregon where I am G1 reeds seemed thin and chirpy in my Kyos (ABW & Poly). I've had better luck with Apps and Chesneys. The cool thing about Kyo chanters are the resonance and vibrato to them, particularly the skirl. The most recent versions pitch around 478-482Hz I think but they aren't what I would describe as thin, or bright/needle sharp like I would many other modern chanters at the same pitch.
Great chanter. Love my blackwood one. Played it fo about 3 years and its great! Currently using Lee reeds which I find work well, but have also used Husk and G1 with zero tape. Talking of tape, which kind do you have on there Matt? Thanks for the videos.
I have one of those; it's by and large my favorite. I do need more tape on it than I thought it would, but it depends on the reed. I have some Chris Apps reeds that do pretty well in it. My second favorite, surprisingly, is the Campbell. It seems to need no tape except for the high G. Anyway, thanks for a great review!
Hey Matt can you do a video on how to get a nice clean drone shut off at the end of a tune? Like how to actually kill your drones without the frustrating dying ducks? Theres tons of information out there about strike ins, drone reed adjustments ect, but theres really nothing on how to get a nice clean stop with the drones, or for that matter how to even do it, how its actually performed. Being a newbie and stuck learning on my own its been a complete mystery to me and im sure to a lot of others out there who are "roner learning" also.
Have you tried the Colin Kyo chanter with a Melvin and Chris Apps reed? I've heard Melvins work well with Murray's chanter, and Murray said Chris Apps is the best he's tested in it.
I've only had the opportunity to test it with whatever reeds were in this video, as I only had the chanter a single afternoon. But it was a great chanter!
I have a Infinity chanter and love the small spacing. I wonder how the same reeds you tested in the Kyo would compare in the Infinity for playing in tune? Would both the Kyo and Infinity be about the same? As always Matt, I greatly enjoy your videos.
That's tough. I'd have to play them side by side. Extremely similar chanters. How about this, you wouldn't go wrong with either (unless you have big hands)!
@@MattWillisBagpiper, I am still starting out with my practice chanter, but am already reading up for the future. Someone online recommended the Colin Kyo for smaller hands.
