How do I make your bagpipes?
I am traditional hand turner, a true hand turner. I am one of only a few bagpipe makers left in the world that still has the knowledge and skill to make a bagpipe completely by hand. I hold the turning chisels by hand in order to carve the wood while the wood is spinning on a wood lathe. I am extremely accurate and repeatable with my technique. No other method of bagpipe making matches the skill and artistry of a true hand turner of bagpipes.
Some makers will tell you they make bagpipes by hand but what they are actually doing is making bagpipes on a metal lathe/copy lathe while they use a template on a copying device. That is not hand turning, and those bagpipes are nothing short of factory assembled.
I do not use any computer controlled machinery to make my wooden bagpipes or chanters. Everything is done by hand in true artisan fashion.
I am traditional hand turner, a true hand turner. I am one of only a few bagpipe makers left in the world that still has the knowledge and skill to make a bagpipe completely by hand. I hold the turning chisels by hand in order to carve the wood while the wood is spinning on a wood lathe. I am extremely accurate and repeatable with my technique. No other method of bagpipe making matches the skill and artistry of a true hand turner of bagpipes.
Some makers will tell you they make bagpipes by hand but what they are actually doing is making bagpipes on a metal lathe/copy lathe while they use a template on a copying device. That is not hand turning, and those bagpipes are nothing short of factory assembled.
I do not use any computer controlled machinery to make my wooden bagpipes or chanters. Everything is done by hand in true artisan fashion.
To oil or not to oil, that is the question:
As long as there have been bagpipe players there have been arguments on whether to oil the bagpipe bores or not. It is common in woodwind instruments to oil the bores of them. There are all kinds of oil products on the market to suit those needs. Oiling will give your wood a better chance at surviving dry and rapidly changing conditions. Clear mineral oil is a perfectly fine oil to use on your bagpipes.
Some pieces of wood are simply prone to cracking given the right conditions and there is almost nothing you can do about it. Major losses in water content is what causes the majority of major cracking and surface checking along with natural stress/tension within the wood that causes cracking as well. If the wood of your pipes does have a dry look to it, you may want to consider oiling. This is a sign that the wood is becoming too dried out. This is especially true if you live in an arid environment.
Happy piping!
As long as there have been bagpipe players there have been arguments on whether to oil the bagpipe bores or not. It is common in woodwind instruments to oil the bores of them. There are all kinds of oil products on the market to suit those needs. Oiling will give your wood a better chance at surviving dry and rapidly changing conditions. Clear mineral oil is a perfectly fine oil to use on your bagpipes.
Some pieces of wood are simply prone to cracking given the right conditions and there is almost nothing you can do about it. Major losses in water content is what causes the majority of major cracking and surface checking along with natural stress/tension within the wood that causes cracking as well. If the wood of your pipes does have a dry look to it, you may want to consider oiling. This is a sign that the wood is becoming too dried out. This is especially true if you live in an arid environment.
Happy piping!
Bagpipe Chanter Tuning
Number 1) Always seek out in-person advice on tuning your chanter with a qualified piper. Trying to get tuning advice over video chat or messaging is very difficult or impossible.
Number 2) Use a tuner to set your chanter up! There are tuner apps available for any phone these days and they work very well. Most pipers are more likely to get their chanter set up properly just using a tuner instead of their ears preference.
REMEMBER! You should not tune your chanter all the way into tune when you first set it up because the pitch will climb as you play. Use this to your advantage, instead, you should make sure your chanter is just slightly flat (on the top hand in particular) when it is plugged into your pipe.
Number 3) Never try to mouth blow your chanter to tune it unless you know exactly how it will react plugged into your full bagpipe. Always tune it while it is plugged into your full bagpipe. Make very small adjustments to the pulling it up in the reed up (flattening it) or pushing it down into the reed seat (sharpening it) between plugging it in and out of your chanters stock to get it into tune.
Number 4) Never try to tune your chanter to a certain number in Hz unless you are a higher level solo piper or you are tuning to a pipeband for pitch.
(Find a higher pitched brand of reeds you like for the winter and a lower pitched brand of reed for the summer and swap them out between seasons).
If you try to just pick a number in Hz to tune to you will likely push any chanter you pick up into an unnatural state. That could be why you are fighting super sharp High G notes, a thin top hand in the heat, and other tuning issues etc... No chanter sounds good with having any of the tone holes half covered in tape, and if it comes to that you need to look into what would be a more appropriate chanter reed combo. Is it the chanter, is it the reed, or is it the combination of the two? Those are the questions to ask yourself when you run into tuning problems.
Note:
Putting a chanter into it's stock and playing them in the pipes will lower the pitch by 2-4Hz naturally compared to mouth blowing the chanter. The top hand will be affected more dramatically than the bottom hand in pitch movements. This is perfectly okay, just play the reed until it is warmed up to reach optimal pitch or push the reed in a hairs width deeper into the reed seat to get a higher pitch.
Chanters & Hz:
The chanters I produce, tune between 480-483Hz (ABOUT) depending on the reed. No chanter tunes perfectly to any Hz amount in particular every time. They always tune to a range of Hz given many different conditions such as, brand of reed and strength of reed, ambient temperature, and, humidity levels, can all combine to cause a chanter to easily tune 6-8 Hz in either deviation of the standard, in our case, 480Hz. With a new un-played-in reed this can be even more dramatic typically to the lower Hz range. It is completely normal to tune lower in pitch while you work your reed into a comfortable blowing pressure.
Note:
Remember, the closer the chanter reed lips are together the higher pitch they will produce and the wider the chanter reed lips are apart the lower in pitch they will produce. Lips that are too close will cause chirping and squeaks and lips that are too far apart will cause flat top hands on the chanter and dramatic issues with the F note of the chanter causing it to drop down to a different note altogether in some cases.
Number 1) Always seek out in-person advice on tuning your chanter with a qualified piper. Trying to get tuning advice over video chat or messaging is very difficult or impossible.
Number 2) Use a tuner to set your chanter up! There are tuner apps available for any phone these days and they work very well. Most pipers are more likely to get their chanter set up properly just using a tuner instead of their ears preference.
REMEMBER! You should not tune your chanter all the way into tune when you first set it up because the pitch will climb as you play. Use this to your advantage, instead, you should make sure your chanter is just slightly flat (on the top hand in particular) when it is plugged into your pipe.
Number 3) Never try to mouth blow your chanter to tune it unless you know exactly how it will react plugged into your full bagpipe. Always tune it while it is plugged into your full bagpipe. Make very small adjustments to the pulling it up in the reed up (flattening it) or pushing it down into the reed seat (sharpening it) between plugging it in and out of your chanters stock to get it into tune.
Number 4) Never try to tune your chanter to a certain number in Hz unless you are a higher level solo piper or you are tuning to a pipeband for pitch.
(Find a higher pitched brand of reeds you like for the winter and a lower pitched brand of reed for the summer and swap them out between seasons).
If you try to just pick a number in Hz to tune to you will likely push any chanter you pick up into an unnatural state. That could be why you are fighting super sharp High G notes, a thin top hand in the heat, and other tuning issues etc... No chanter sounds good with having any of the tone holes half covered in tape, and if it comes to that you need to look into what would be a more appropriate chanter reed combo. Is it the chanter, is it the reed, or is it the combination of the two? Those are the questions to ask yourself when you run into tuning problems.
Note:
Putting a chanter into it's stock and playing them in the pipes will lower the pitch by 2-4Hz naturally compared to mouth blowing the chanter. The top hand will be affected more dramatically than the bottom hand in pitch movements. This is perfectly okay, just play the reed until it is warmed up to reach optimal pitch or push the reed in a hairs width deeper into the reed seat to get a higher pitch.
Chanters & Hz:
The chanters I produce, tune between 480-483Hz (ABOUT) depending on the reed. No chanter tunes perfectly to any Hz amount in particular every time. They always tune to a range of Hz given many different conditions such as, brand of reed and strength of reed, ambient temperature, and, humidity levels, can all combine to cause a chanter to easily tune 6-8 Hz in either deviation of the standard, in our case, 480Hz. With a new un-played-in reed this can be even more dramatic typically to the lower Hz range. It is completely normal to tune lower in pitch while you work your reed into a comfortable blowing pressure.
Note:
Remember, the closer the chanter reed lips are together the higher pitch they will produce and the wider the chanter reed lips are apart the lower in pitch they will produce. Lips that are too close will cause chirping and squeaks and lips that are too far apart will cause flat top hands on the chanter and dramatic issues with the F note of the chanter causing it to drop down to a different note altogether in some cases.
Instrument Wood And Seasoning It:
Boy oh boy what a delight exotic wood is! I frequently get asked about how long my wood is aged before I use it to make an instrument. This is a good question and you are right to ask it of any bagpipe maker.
Most of the wood I have has been sitting in a drying state for quite a number of years. Most bagpipe makers do not have the luxury of well seasoned wood anymore. They purchase wood and use it up within a few weeks or months of getting it, not I! I have been collecting a number of rare woods over the years, patiently setting it aside for the right time to be used. Rest assured that I have a supply of wood that would last a number of years running at full capacity without replenishing it. You are in good hands.
Boy oh boy what a delight exotic wood is! I frequently get asked about how long my wood is aged before I use it to make an instrument. This is a good question and you are right to ask it of any bagpipe maker.
Most of the wood I have has been sitting in a drying state for quite a number of years. Most bagpipe makers do not have the luxury of well seasoned wood anymore. They purchase wood and use it up within a few weeks or months of getting it, not I! I have been collecting a number of rare woods over the years, patiently setting it aside for the right time to be used. Rest assured that I have a supply of wood that would last a number of years running at full capacity without replenishing it. You are in good hands.
Refurbishments and Restorations:
I do not refurbish or restore any pipes I did not make. I am generally so busy working on my own bagpipe making that I do not have time to fix other pipes up. Furthermore, the cost to have me restore or refurbish your pipes would probably approximate the cost you paid for them, especially if it is mass produced /copy lathe set of pipes.
I do not refurbish or restore any pipes I did not make. I am generally so busy working on my own bagpipe making that I do not have time to fix other pipes up. Furthermore, the cost to have me restore or refurbish your pipes would probably approximate the cost you paid for them, especially if it is mass produced /copy lathe set of pipes.
Shipping items to me:
Please do not randomly ship any items to me that we did not discuss and agree on first. If this occurs I will refuse the package and it will ship back to you.
Please do not randomly ship any items to me that we did not discuss and agree on first. If this occurs I will refuse the package and it will ship back to you.
