Steampacket wrote:... I was reminded of Sean Seary's Leo Rowsome which as far as I can see is also solely made up of metal tubes, with only the three regulator bodies (parts with the finger holes and keys) being made of wood, the slide of the tenor drone, and the chanter body itself. Everything else except for the reeds and ivory mounts, and including the stock seems to be made of metal. It's possible that the drones are wood encased in metal, but I don't think so. ...
The drones are indeed wood encased in metal. The mainstock is nearly all metal, which results in some issues - it would probably be less troublesome if it were metal-clad wood, but it's metal-clad metal, something like pewter on the inside with brass bits (for instance the tenon that inserts into the stock cup) and nickel silver cladding outside - a real bugger to try and repair if something starts to leak (which of course it has, over the years). As much as I respect Leo's work, I think this particular stock configuration wasn't such a great idea. The acoustically odd thing about the Sean Seery set is the hollow puck on the baritone drone, otherwise I think the bores are normal enough.
I can't tell from my notes, but it's possible that the slide tenon on the baritone is indeed a metal tube, but a thick-walled one, so that the inner bore diameter is still more or less as one would expect.
So much for staying on topic!
