Adding Silver to Highland Pipes--Need Advice

[psychodonald]

Hi all:
would like your feedback regarding the adding of silver to my pipes. Would be interested in your experience, if you have had this done or have done it yourself. I'm interested in quality products at a reasonable price; any suggestions as to who does a good job would be welcomed. In addition, I've had some suggest that the application of silver can be done as a do-it-yourself sort of project, is this true? Thanks, Don

[texaspiper1987]

I wouldn't recommend a DIY for retro-fitting because you have to have mounts designed specifically for your bagpipe.

I don't know of anyone who specializes in it, but my suggestion would be to contact Ringo Bowen through his website (http://www.thebagpipeplace.com) and he should be able to direct you to a reputable indivdual.

[kintailpipes]

I recommend against it as well. retro silver does not always fit the instrument properly and depending on what is actually there existing, the pipes need to be turned down to allow for the silver to fit. This is not always done properly. It is my experience and opinion that the value of the instrument will not increase but will go down. retro fit pipes just don't resell.

[pancelticpiper]

A great person to do Highland bagpipe silver is David Davidse at Truehand Engraving.

Check out his site; it's fantastic.

He does a good job and his mounts will fit your pipes.

About retrofitted pipes not selling/not increasing value, it's true that the pipe market is down at this time.

But up until recently, pipes that had well-fitted, well-engraved mounts were selling for very high prices.

Not in this category is the guy on Ebay who slaps ugly machine-engraved silver mounts on old pipes. His pipes don't sell because the silver is UGLY and it detracts from the appearance of the classic pipes. He claims that his silver is handengraved but the closeup photos he provides show that it is obviously machine engraved.

High-quality hand engraving will always be appreciated and will always sell.

Here is the ugly machine silver:



Here is vintage magnificent hand engraving on a classic set of Hendersons:



And here is some David Davidse Truehand hand-engraved stuff:



But who would want all that bling? How 'bout me...

[demon_piper]

Walker Metalsmiths produces what I find to be the most attractive silver bar none. Though Naill's repousse silver is also quite nice.

[gajdar]

You basically need to be a jeweler to make the silver successful and a reasonably good turner to get the mounts on right. It's a rare combination. If you want to learn, take a jewelry class to learn to cast & engrave and then a tuning class to learn how to spindle turn. Then practice on a bunch of test pieces until you have everything working. At that point you're ready to put them on you pipes. Bottom line is, unless you want a long term avocation, get somebody that knows what they are doing already to do the work and accept the cost.

(Parenthetical comment: if you just want simple bands - use high tin plumbing solder. Cut a groove, slightly wider at the bottom is best so it locks in, wrap in high tin solder and melt it with a soldering iron so it flows and fills the groove and is a bit proud. Once it cools, turn it to shape and polish. That's a pretty common ornament on French and Eastern European pipes and actually stays shiny longer than silver does)