dust? A living perhaps; a craftsman’s satisfaction certainly.One thing is sure - without high quality instruments piping could never have advanced to its current princely status. It is a credit to the modern bagpipemaking industry that these days they can produce instruments capable of taking the top prizes. More do we see champion pipers playing bagpipes made in the recent past.Yes the old Henderson and Lawrie models are much sought after, but the modern makers are giving prospective buyers pause for thought. Should I spend £4,000 on that old pre-war set that might, just might, give me the rich, full steady sound I yearn for? Or would I be better off with a more modern set from a reputable maker (those that advertise in the PT)? The bores will be clean, the joints will match, it should be easy to reed and tune.
W Not so long ago this would have
been a ‘no-brainer’ to use a vulgar modernism. It would be off to the bank manager and a plea for some fiscal favouritism and a four figure sum, let’s leave the new sticks for the beginners.Now we are so well looked after and there are so many good, perfectly made, new sets on offer that we are spoilt for choice. There is no need for anyone to ‘do a John Ban MacKenzie’: kill the sheep, make the bag, turn the pipes, cut the reeds, compose the tune and play it.(We can
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HAT does a pipemaker get from his trade other than a daily throatful of black
think of only one such ‘complete piper’ today among our top performers, Brian Donaldson.) The UK bagpipe industry (there is
one top manufacturer in England) enjoys a positive reputation around the world.Yet it was not always so. Stories of instruments sent out badly bored, poorly finished and darned near unplayable were not uncommon in our memory. It happened because those responsible could get away with it. Not any more. Global communi- cation is such that one false move and a manufacturer’s name is mud, splattered all over the internet, fairly or otherwise. This has put everyone on their mettle. Not that it was ever a problem for those who valued their integrity and reputation (those that advertise in the PT).Their good name was important to them, faulty parts being replaced no questions asked, chanters adjusted free of charge, shaky mounts fixed, no bother, post paid. It is well that this noble trade has
been recognised in the book ‘Highland Bagpipe Makers’ just re- issued in its second edition.The book rightly receives fulsome praise in our review pages (one small oversight we did notice,however,was the lack of an acknowledgement in the Foreword of the contribution the College of Piping and the Piping Times must have made to the book). As the reviewer states we now await a third edition covering the modern era and the men who have put the art and craft of making a bagpipe at the pinnacle it enjoys today.