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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Sold! 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 cowhide bag, and
with wool MacKenzie tartan bagcover and cords by R. G. Hardie of Glasgow, Scotland. Note:
I have another one of these sets by a different maker that I'll be restoring and putting up for sale
in the future - please contact me if you are interested.
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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). 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 the Irish uilleann pipe, but less typical to that of Scottish 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.
German schaeferpfeife - in the key of G with bass drone and tenor drone, both parallel in a double stock. 1-1/2 octave range chanter (plays a chromatic scale) has
lower thumb hole for flatted third (Bb), and double holes for the leading tones F and F#. Made of flamed rock maple and mounted in grenadilla, with a forest green-colored
cowhide bag by Alban Faust of Mellerud, Sweden. Note: This particular instrument is for sale. See Alan's Bargain Basement - Used
Instruments For Sale Page.
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/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/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/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/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 three interchangable pieds (chanter/drone combinations). 39 centimeter pied in the key of G/C
made of blackwood and mounted with imt. ivory and German silver by Lucien Destannes of Aurillac, France. 35 cm pied in A/D, made
of blackwood and mounted in imt. ivory and bone and silver wire by Bernard Blanc of Lapalisse, France. 47 cm pied (not shown) in
E/A made of "amourette" and mounted with imt. ivory and nickel-silver by Joseph Ruols of Clermont-Ferrand, France. 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 an alternate Bb chanter and 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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