Hi,
just signed up to the board although i have been reading the posts for a couple of years now. I have finally saved up enough mobney to buy a full set in c# by peter hunter and am selling my practise set.
The practise set is by Brian Howard and is in excellent cosmetic and playing condition. The chanter is made from ebony, keyless, and has an excellent reed and easy to play. The bag is new (about 4 months old and leather and the bellows are also new. The set comes in a n alluminium flight case. I have had the set for about 3 years.
i can send pics if you let me have your e-mail address.
“Palosanto”? I’ve not heard of it before. It looks like lignum vitae. Wikipedia has an entry for “Palo Santo” (Holy Wood) - used for folk medicine. Rich in essential oils.
It doesn’t look as dense or oily (could just be the ‘polish’) as Lignum Vitae. I burn some wood known as “holy wood” (also Palo Santo) for the scent fairly often (smells like a conifer’s sap), but it’s extremely light (in both color and density) so isn’t the same as this wood.
There is a certain amount of confusion about these lignums - even timber suppliers seem to get a bit baffled by it. I have used 5 different kinds of timber all of which could be seen as lignums.
Verawood - Bulnesia arborea I think, quite fibrous and easy to use. Made a very nice 3/4 set but not really dense enough for my taste really.
Lignum Vitae - Guiacum officinale, dense, without a pronounced smell on turning. My concert pipes are made out of this - they sound good but not as good as palosanto.
Rubbery smelling lignum - as above but smells rubbery when turned and very hard.
V oily lignum - when I drilled this for a cap the oils bubbled and almost squirted out of it. Lovely smell. Haven’t got any more of it.
5 . Bulnesia sarmientoi – what we are calling Palosanto - Paraguayan and Argentinan lignum, produces guiac oil. Hence confusion with guiacum officinale. Was burnt as fuel on the guano boats on the way home, sob. Good smell when turned, and when firing up drones! - dense. Great tone for pipes, a personal favorite for concert chanters. Will precipitate crystals for some time after it’s been cut or otherwise worked.
All the abouve (and I’m sure there are more) are ultimately zygophyllaceae.
I’m sure I’m more confused now then when I started! I reserve the right to edit this lot!!
I think I’ll stick with the Ebony, rosewoods & holly & fruity wood smells, thanks Sam, all that squirting oil & rubbery smells, to exciting for me, oh dear.
all the best.
Picked up my c# set today from Bradford and they look and sound even better in the flesh than on the website. They play superbly, so much so, that i now regard myself as a intermediate piper rather than as a begginner. Im not saying my previous sets were rubbish, i dont know that as i havnt played more than about 5 sets of pipes, but what i do know is that this set is seriously good. The tone is exquisite, everthing is balanced..........words fail me. I can certainly recomend green lignum for its tonal qualities, the maker had another set and various chanters made of the stuff and they were all so mellow. Thanks sam and peter, youve made a middle aged man very happy
all that squirting oil & rubbery smells, to exciting for me, oh dear. 