Piob Mohr or Great Highland Bagpipe - mouth-blown with a conical bore chanter in the key of Bb, and with one bass and two tenor drones
tuned to the chanter's key note. Made of African blackwood with ivory mounts by R. G. Hardie of Glasgow, Scotland, ca. 1963. Silk cords are "salt
and pepper" colored. L & M elk hide bag is covered in black velvet with silver fringe.
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Highland small pipe or Parlour pipes - mouth-blown in the key of Bb with a cylindrical bore
chanter, and one bass and two tenor drones tuned to the chanter's key note. Made of African blackwood
with imitation ivory mounts, with a cowhide bag, and with a wool Royal Stewart tartan bagcover and cords
by MacPherson of Edinburgh, Scotland. Note: This instrument is currently for sale
- see Alan's Bargain Basement - Used Instruments For Sale for details.
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Scottish border pipe or Lowland pipe - bellows-blown in the key of A with a conical bore
chanter, one bass and one tenor drone (both tuned to A), and one treble drone (tuned to E); drones are
mounted in a common stock. Made of African blackwood with brass and imitation ivory mounts by Alan.
Chanter by Colin Ross of Monkseaton, Northumberland, bellows by Hamish Moore of Scotland. The cowhide
bag by Alan is covered with a 'Shepherd Check' woolen bagcover trimmed with black wool fringe made by
Sandra Woodard of Campbell, CA. Special to this bagpipe are the arraingement of the blowpipe and drone
stocks in the bag, and also the drone cut-off lever - common features found on Irish uilleann pipes,
but less typical to that of Scottish Lowland and Northumbrian border pipes.
Oxford or "Home Counties" bagpipe - in the key of A with a conical bore chanter, and
octave and fifth tuned cylindrical bore "trumpet bell" drones. Made of mountain mahogany with water
buffalo and cowhorn mounts by Alan, after a design by Bob Thomas. Bag is of
cowhide and drone cords are black silk.
Lancashire or "North Counties" bagpipe - in the key of G with a conical bore chanter and
octave and fifth tuned cylindrical bore drones. An interesting feature of this pipe is the "backward
tuning" of the drones. The smaller "chair leg" shaped drone is tuned an octave below the keynote,
while the "trumpet bell" larger drone is tuned a fifth below the smaller drone. Made of mountain
mahogany with imitation ivory, water buffalo and cow horn mounts by Alan after a design by
Bob Thomas. The bag is cowhide, covered with a wool 'Shepherd Check' bagcover
trimmed with white cotten fringe. Drone cords are black silk.
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Cornish double-pipe - This bagpipe, made by my old friend and mentor Bob
Thomas (RIP), was called "a Welsh double-pipe" by a couple of it's previous owners. After receiving
several emails with comments as to it's origin (some called it a Magdeburger schäeferpfeife), Neb
Lecic, a Canadian piper from Toronto, finally set me on the right track. After visiting
Chris Bailey's site, and
having viewed his reconstruction of a Cornish double-pipe based upon the curious bench-end carvings in
the church of St. Nonna, Altarnun, Cornwall, I am fairly convinced that Bob's intension was to reconstruct
his own version based on the carvings. A unique element of this bagpipe, are the separate short octagonal
sections connecting each of the chanters to the headstock. This allows, as Chris Bailey points out
with his model, the ability to convert each chanter to a mouth-blown wind-cap "cornemuse." Each chanter
has the full compliment of finger holes, allowing it to be played with both hands as a single melody
pipe. By removing, or blocking-off one or the other of the chanters, the instrument can be played as
a single-chanter bagpipe. The chanters can be played together (one hand on each) in the bag as shown,
with the lower chanter being used to extend the range of the shorter one by means of blocking-off it's
top holes. Made of ? wood with a sewn cowhide bag.
Swedish säckpipa of the Dalarna region - in the key of G-major/minor and A-major/minor
(set has two interchangeable cylindrical bore chanters). The two-piece (tunable) cylindrical bore drone
can be tuned to the A chanter's dominate (six-finger e') or the G chanter's dominate (six-finger d').
Made of cherry with a sewn cowhide bag by Alan.
Dutch lage landen doedelzak - in the key of D/G with bass drone and baritone/tenor drone mounted
in a common stock. Three section baritone drone (as shown) can be converted to a tenor (octave D)
drone by removing the middle section. The 1-1/2 octave range chanter plays a chromatic scale and has a
lower thumb hole for playing a flatted third (F) in both octaves. Made of Rosepallisander with carved
Armenian designs, and mounted in imitation tortois shell and water buffalo horn, with a cowhide bag by
Frans Hattink of Friesland (Holland). To see a detail of the drone stock with carved peacock, click
here.
Musette Bechonnet (Bas Auvergne/Sud Bourbonnnais) - 16 pouces (chanter length) in the keys
of G/C with treble, tenor and bass drones tuned to G. Made of ebony with imt. ivory mounts by
Casey Burns, Kingston, WA. Chanter by Bernard Blanc of
Lapalisse, France. Bag and blowpipe (coverted to mouthblown) by Alan. Tapistry bagcover with black
fringe by Sandra Woodard of Campbell, CA. Boîtier(headstock) ivory scrimshaw of
"Chanticler" by Karen Cormac of Seattle, WA. You can see a detail of the Boîtier
here.
Musette du Centre (Berry/Bourbonnais/Nevers/Morvan) - 14 pouces (chanter length) in the keys of
A/D with octave-tuned 'A' tenor and bass drones. Made of mountain mahogany with imt. ivory and water
buffalo horn mounts and cowhide bag by Alan. Boxwood chanter with horn mounts by Bernard Blanc of
Lapalisse, France. Tapistry bagcover with burgandy fringe by Sandra Woodard of Campbell, CA.
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Musette du Centre (Berry/Bourbonnais/Nevers/Morvan) - 20 pouces (chanter length) in the keys of
D/G with octave-tuned 'D' tenor and bass drones. Made of cormier (service tree) and boxwood with
tin-inlay decorations by Bernard Blanc of Lapalisse, France. Tapistry bagcover with gold fringe by
Sandra Woodard of Campbell, CA.
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Musette du Centre (Berry/Bourbonnais/Nevers/Morvan) - 23 pouces (chanter length) in the
keys of C/F with octave-tuned 'C' tenor and bass drones. Made of cormier with tin-inlay
decorations by Bernard Jacquemin of Semur-en-Auxois, France.
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Musette du Centre (Berry/Bourbonnais/Nevers/Morvan) - 26 pouces (chanter length) in the
keys of A/D with octave-tuned 'A' tenor and bass drones. Note: This bagpipe sounds a full octave
lower in pitch than the 14 pouces musette descibed above. Made of cormier
with cowhorn and resin mounts, and decorated with "Sautivet" style engraving by Bernard Blanc of
Lapalisse, France.
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Cabrette d'Auvergne - with four interchangable pieds (chanter/drone combinations): 35
centemeter pied (shown) in keys of A/D, made of blackwood and mounted in imitation ivory, bone,
and silver wire by Bernard Blanc of Lapalisse, France. 39 cm pied (shown) in the keys of G/C
made of blackwood and mounted in imt. ivory and nickel-silver by Lucien Destannes of Aurillac, France.
44 cm pied (not shown) in the keys of F/Bb made of blackwood and mounted in imt. ivory and
nickel-silver by Joseph Ruols of Clermont-Ferrand, France. 47 cm pied (not shown) in the keys
of E/A made of "amourette" and mounted in imt. ivory and nickel-silver also by Joseph Ruols. La
tête (headstock) "Miss Liberty", sculpted in ivory by Michael Hubbert of Boonville, CA.
Le soufflet (bellows) by Bernard Desblancs of the Conservatoire Occitan, Toulouse, France, and
the bag and blowpipe stock by Alan. Cut-velvet bagcover with silver fringe by Sandra Woodard of
Campbell, CA.
Boha or cornemuse landaise (Gascogne) - with pied (chanter/drone) in the key of A.
Made of boxwood with tin-inlay decorations by Bernard Desblancs of the Conservatoire Occitan, Toulouse,
France. The bag is a tanned goatskin.
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Gaita de foles - in the key of C with octave-tuned roncon (bass) and ronquillo
(tenor), and fifth-tuned ronqueta or chion (treble) drones. This set also contains
alternate Bb and D chanters and a Bb bass drone section (not shown). Made of apricot with cowhorn and
ivory mounts by Brian Steeger of San Juan Bautista, CA.
Red wool bagcover with gold fringe by Sandra Woodard of Campbell, CA.
Tulum - in the key of G#? with cane double chanter and carved wooden yoke and bell - maker
unknown. Untanned goatskin bag and make-up mirror by Brian
Steeger. Blowpipe stock, cane blowpipe and "lucky charms" pendents by Alan.
For a short sound sample, you can go here: The Universe
of Bagpipes.
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