How do you make your bagpipes?
I am traditional hand turner, a true hand turner and bagpipe maker. I am one of only a few bagpipe makers left in the world that still has the knowledge and skill on how to make them 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 in my technique's. No other method of bagpipe making matches the skill and artistry of a 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 while they use a template on a copying device.
I do not use any computer controlled machinery to make my bagpipes or chanters. Everything is done by hand in true artisan fashion.
I am traditional hand turner, a true hand turner and bagpipe maker. I am one of only a few bagpipe makers left in the world that still has the knowledge and skill on how to make them 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 in my technique's. No other method of bagpipe making matches the skill and artistry of a 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 while they use a template on a copying device.
I do not use any computer controlled machinery to make my 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 wood bores of them. There are all kinds of oil products on the market to suit those needs. Feel free to follow this tradition if you feel like it. I personally, however, never oil my bagpipes these days because it moves the bores (swells them) too much and effects the tone permanently in some cases. However, I used to do it religiously. As I learned more about bagpipe making and bagpipe playing I felt I gained no advantage from oiling. It didn't protect anything or prevent any cracking. If a piece of wood is going to crack, it is simply going to crack given the right conditions. Major losses in water content is what causes the majority of major cracking along with natural stress within the wood that causes cracks as well.
These days I recommend a product called "Renaissance wax." Simply put some on a polishing cloth and rub it into the outside of your drones using some elbow grease to polish it all the way in. You can put it on a dowel rod with a thin amount of cloth at the end and sparingly do the inside of your drones as well making sure that it is polished all the way on the surface with no buildup. This will give you a better water barrier all the way around your bagpipe.
This is really the optimal way to treat your drones every 6 months.
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 wood bores of them. There are all kinds of oil products on the market to suit those needs. Feel free to follow this tradition if you feel like it. I personally, however, never oil my bagpipes these days because it moves the bores (swells them) too much and effects the tone permanently in some cases. However, I used to do it religiously. As I learned more about bagpipe making and bagpipe playing I felt I gained no advantage from oiling. It didn't protect anything or prevent any cracking. If a piece of wood is going to crack, it is simply going to crack given the right conditions. Major losses in water content is what causes the majority of major cracking along with natural stress within the wood that causes cracks as well.
These days I recommend a product called "Renaissance wax." Simply put some on a polishing cloth and rub it into the outside of your drones using some elbow grease to polish it all the way in. You can put it on a dowel rod with a thin amount of cloth at the end and sparingly do the inside of your drones as well making sure that it is polished all the way on the surface with no buildup. This will give you a better water barrier all the way around your bagpipe.
This is really the optimal way to treat your drones every 6 months.
Happy piping!
Bagpipe Chanter Tuning:
Here we go! Haha :)
How many times have we heard a piper tell us that they can't get their chanter in tune? A lot of us could retire on it if it were a paid position.
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 3-4Hz 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 reed back and forth 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. Just don't do it....... Please, PRETTY PLEASE! Unless you are tuning to a pipeband, and even then the person that is setting the chanters up should be tuning to what the chanter reed combo naturally tunes to and they can manipulate chanter reeds easily to set up the rest of the band. (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 and other tuning issues etc... Nothing sounds good with having any tone hole note 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 3-4Hz 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 with more to get a higher pitch.
Chanters & Hz:
The chanters I produce, tune to about 480Hz (ABOUT). 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.
Here we go! Haha :)
How many times have we heard a piper tell us that they can't get their chanter in tune? A lot of us could retire on it if it were a paid position.
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 3-4Hz 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 reed back and forth 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. Just don't do it....... Please, PRETTY PLEASE! Unless you are tuning to a pipeband, and even then the person that is setting the chanters up should be tuning to what the chanter reed combo naturally tunes to and they can manipulate chanter reeds easily to set up the rest of the band. (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 and other tuning issues etc... Nothing sounds good with having any tone hole note 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 3-4Hz 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 with more to get a higher pitch.
Chanters & Hz:
The chanters I produce, tune to about 480Hz (ABOUT). 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 my workshop aging since 2012 and to top it off it was cut to dry at the dealers warehouse long before that! 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 several years strait or more 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 my workshop aging since 2012 and to top it off it was cut to dry at the dealers warehouse long before that! 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 several years strait or more 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 or machine made 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 or machine made 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.
