Saturday, April 28, 2007

Making Bagpipes in Charleston

Now, for something completely different!

Yes, different from building pipe organs, and even more different from organ playing and bell ringing in church. I have been working part-time with Roddy MacLellan in Summerville, SC. We recently finished two sets of bagpipes in African Blackwood, sometimes called Grenadilla. One set had polished aluminum fittings:











The blackwood is oiled with bore oil throughout on the inside (similar to the bore oil that other woodwind instrumentalists use). The external finish is with Teak Oil and polished with multiple waxings.

The other set had engraved Sterling Silver fittings, and looks really "high class". Roddy has a number of different designs for the engraving, and can custom design anything the piper wants!












We're working on a number of Cocobolo sets right now, each with a slightly different set of fittings.

To see more, come to the MacLellan Bagpipe website:
http://www.highland-pipemaker.com/

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a delight to find your blog!

Fr. Jeff Keyes, C.PP.S

Anonymous said...

I came across this page earlier this week when researching MacLellan bagpipes. I ordered a set this week and I look forward to receiving it. You all do really great work over there...several steps above the rest of the pipemakers out there.

Anonymous said...

Just thought I'd say I received my bagpipes this week. I think they're great! Good work.