So I Finally got them, and I promised TexasPiper

[sjcavy]

these are my MacLellan's. African Blackwood, with cocobolo mounts and Bronze ferrules and drone caps, with engraved aluminum tuning pins.

They sound absolutely amazing!!!

[projektio28]

Wow, those look really nice! Enjoy your new set... If the $$$ money wasn't so bad right now I would upgrade by GHB, but alas, I have a set of UPs on order, so I will have to wait...

Matt

[sjcavy]

See, I was the exact opposite. I had these on order, so I couldn't buy a set of UP's. There is always next year though!

[scoutcow]

Wow, they look great! I was thinking of buying a set of ABW MacLellans with engraved aluminium ring caps, slides and ferrules and satinwood mounts.
Is it possible for you to make a sound recording of it?

[sjcavy]

Sorry scoutcow, but I can't. There are soundfiles on Roddy MacLellan's website www.highland-pipemaker.com and also ringo bowen plays his MacLellan set on his website www.thebagpipeplace.com

They are great soundfiles to be sure!

I have glass rocket reeds in my MacLellans and they sound almost identical to Ringo's set, ther than the fact that his are 7 years old, so they are completely broken in. I can't stop playing mine though.

[scoutcow]

Yeah i've heared those soundfiles before, but thanks for the help.

I don't know what I'll do. I've been recommended to not buy something from the USA as the pipes are made there in other circumstances and they may shrink/swell when they get here and also because if there happens something to the pipes, you have to send them all the way to the USA and when they get back you have all the trouble with the customs for taxes and so.
I'm now very interested in pipes made by Douglas MacPherson in Scotland (Kirriemuir) He can make exactly the same pipes as I wanted from MacLellan except for the drone profile (I wanted MacLellan original) but that's not a big problem for me.
I have a pipe made in the mid 70's by Hugh MacPherson (no family of Douglas) now and it needs a few repairs (ferrules and blowpipe crack) and I let Douglas fix that and I think I'll order one of his pipes. He also doesn't have a waiting list of several months or even up to a year.

[sjcavy]

I have seen some of Douglas MacPhersons Pipes, they are quite pretty. I do not know how they sound though. You could try Sinclair you know.... they are amazing.

[scoutcow]

The Hugh MacPherson I have at the moment is almost the same as a Sinclair (the Sinclair turner worked for a while at the MacPherson workshop in the 50's) so I'll just wait how the pipes look like after the work has been done by Douglas and also hear how they sound like, the reed seats aren't good anymore, so the reeds aren't very secure in there and maybe some bores have to be straightened out. Maybe after I got it back, I like it that much I don't even want a new pipe... (Although I really don't like the yellowish imitation ivory mounts )
And on Scotland on TV is a video from Douglas where you see him making the pipes and you also hear his pipes and they sound great and according to other people's opinions it's a great sound.

[AaronMalcomb]

I don't know what I'll do. I've been recommended to not buy something from the USA as the pipes are made there in other circumstances and they may shrink/swell when they get here...

Not as likely to be a problem as you'd think. Blackwood is very stable and GHB drones are pretty thick. The reeds and the hemp on the joints are really all that would change much.

... and also because if there happens something to the pipes, you have to send them all the way to the USA and when they get back you have all the trouble with the customs for taxes and so.

That would really be the only issue with buying pipes made overseas.

I have a pipe made in the mid 70's by Hugh MacPherson (no family of Douglas) now and it needs a few repairs (ferrules and blowpipe crack) and I let Douglas fix that and I think I'll order one of his pipes.

As long as your reeds are set up well and you blow steady, the Hugh MacPherson drones should provide a more than a lifetime of good tone. Good chanter tone and good playing trump the subtle differences in sound you might hear between the Hugh MacPherson drones and any other expertly crafted bagpipe.

Maybe after I got it back, I like it that much I don't even want a new pipe... (Although I really don't like the yellowish imitation ivory mounts oops )

Douglas MacPherson could probably clean off the discolored mounts or replace them with palm nut which looks like aged ivory.

[MichaelLoos]

The Hugh MacPherson I have at the moment is almost the same as a Sinclair (the Sinclair turner worked for a while at the MacPherson workshop in the 50's)

IIRC, MacPherson had worked for Sinclair before he set up his own business.

Although I really don't like the yellowish imitation ivory mounts

I have seen a 200 years old chanter with real ivory mounts and the ivory had turned to exactly the same yellowish colour of the catalin plastic, only of course the texture was clearly visible. I used to dislike the catalin myself, but in the past few years I got to kind of like it, it has become a sort of "classic" material by now. Turning it is a PITA though because of the horrible smell of formaldehyde.

[pancelticpiper]

IIRC, MacPherson had worked for Sinclair before he set up his own business.

Actually, Hugh MacPherson was a merchant, first in Canada (importing Scottish goods) and later in Edinburgh. I don't think he actually ever made any pipes.

He sold Sinclair pipes in his Edinburgh shop. Later, when he decided to have pipes made under the MacPherson label, he hired Willie Bryson away from Sinclair (Bryson had been the "works foreman" at Sinclair).
This would have been sometime in the 1950's.

The MacPherson pipes looked nearly identical to Sinclair pipes, though one telling detail often is the bead surrounding the orifice in the middle of the drone caps which is lacking on genuine Sinclairs (on which the drone caps where flat across the top).

There's a much more detailed thread on this very topic currently running on BobDunsire.

MacPherson pipes I've played have an unsteady bass drone. Sinclair drones are wonderful sounding but some sets suffer from this bass problem. Evidently Sinclair has changed their drone bore specs a number of times over the years.

About those old dark orange Catalin mounts- it's funny how our perception about things change as the things age, like cars:

- new cars have cutting-edge styling and look cool

- 10-year-old cars look a bit out of fashion, a bit fuddy-duddy

- 20-year-old cars look like old "bombs" that you wouldn't be caught dead driving

- 40-year-old cars are classics

When I started playing pipes in the 70's, those Catalin-mounted pipes were the old bombs. Now they're classics.

About Douglas MacPherson (no relation that I know of to Hugh MacPherson), I own a set of his and they're great. Top-class workmanship and sound. Doug has changed his specs a bit: his new pipes have a larger-bore bass drone which is steadier and puts out more tone.

About US-made pipes: due to the weak US dollar, US pipes are the best bargain going. There are two fine blackwood Gibson sets on Ebay now for $500 or less, amazing. These are great-sounding drones.
There's also a MacLellan set going for around $1000.

About the aesthetics of MacLellan pipes, I really am of two minds about them. In a way I'm attracted to their distinctive look, while on the other hand I prefer the traditional GHB profile. But that set at the top of this thread is amazing.

[pancelticpiper]

Here's a closeup of a set of Hugh MacPhersons showing the beading I was talking about

[sjcavy]

Thanks! I didn't know at first if the combination of the blackwood, aluminium, cocobolo, and bronze would look exactly the way I wanted it, but Now I can't take my eyes off of it.

As to the asthetics, Mr. Pan, Roddy is now offering the traditional military styling for no extra charge. Same bores though. I absolutely love these pipes.

I actually changed my mind about the Douglas MacPherson's. At first I was going to buy the blackwood/engraved silver/palm nut ivory/and purpleheart accents set he has in his gallery, but then I was convinced when I heard my first set of MacLellans.

wow. Just can't say enough about these pipes.

Those MacPherson pipes are pretty interesting. I love that old catalin stuff. Maybe I'll get it on a blackwood practice chanter someday......

[pancelticpiper]

OK I read up on the Sinclair history and it's not quite as I said above (the above being based on the article in Highland Bagpipe Makers).

The true story seems to be that William Sinclair Jr ( 1906-1990) sold his business outright to Hugh MacPherson in 1957.

Sinclair turners Jimmy Tweedie, Willie Bryson, and Jimmy Frame went to make pipes for MacPherson in 1957. Wm Sinclair Jr himself left the piping business for the time being.

In 1959 Wm Sinclair Jr began working at "the MacPherson office".

In 1962 Wm Sinclair Jr bought the business back from Hugh MacPherson or in any case restarted his pipemaking business (accounts vary).

In 1964 or 1965 Jimmy Tweedie rejoined Sinclair, staying until he left to found his own pipemaking business, Inveran House.

Another Sinclair turner, Tim Gellaitry, left Sinclair around 1989 to go out on his own as a pipemaker.

So you can today buy a new Sinclair pipe, or an Inveran House pipe, or a Gellaitry pipe, and get a pipe by a current or former Sinclair turner.

About Doug MacPherson pipes: my set is rather traditional-looking. I myself don't care for his purpleheart inserts. I am a big fan of palm nut ivory, as it doesn't look like plastic, having cool natural varegations.

Here's my Doug MacPhersons. These are the Ebay photos- Doug sold this set, used but in flawless condition, on Ebay directly. After I bought the set I had David Davidse (TrueHand Engraving) add engraving to the sides of the endcaps.

[AaronMalcomb]

Gorgeous pipes.

And those are the palm nut mounts? Very hard to distinguish from ivory in those photos. Even close up the absence of Schreger lines would be the only giveaway.