Wondering what everyone who’s played one thought.
A lady in the band recently got one (she managed to keep the order secret from the time she placed it to its arrival). I grabbed it for a blow. Nice pipes.
Here’s the full write-up I did:
http://thediaryofapiper.blogspot.com/2009/02/atherton-macdougall-reproduction.html
Does her set have the Rocket drone reeds that come with Atherton MacDougalls?
A guy in my band recently got Atherton MacDougalls, and I really like the tone. Seamless and smooth without being bland, good volume without being buzzy. And very air-efficient. All in all one of the nicest drone tones I’ve heard (and I’ve pretty much heard them all.)
Another guy in the band has beautiful 1920’s Hendersons. Those have that fantastic “Henderson ring” with tons of very high harmonics.
Another guy has classic Robertsons and they are perhaps the boldest drones in the band. They can certainly go toe-to-toe with most Hendersons.
Now, a while back we had a “drone listening party” where a number of classic pipes were played. A magnificent set of original 1880s MacDougalls, classic Hendersons, etc etc. Somebody had a set of MacLellans and they did not stand up all that well tonewise against these other pipes.
The set which really caught our attention was a set made by Mark Cushing in New York. Huge booming tone, tons of harmonics in the mid range which supported every note of the chanter in a way that no other drones did.
Now six of us have Cushings on order.
One guy (a grade one band player) just got his Cushings and we spent around an hour trading off playing them. Wow. I’ve simply never heard such tone. I can’t wait until mine come.
They come with custom-made Rockets as to the Athertons, and perhaps that’s part of the superior tone of both pipes.
They do have the Rockets. I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t get a set of Rockets with these. Obviously they’re made for each other!
Also, surprised to hear the MacLellans didn’t stand up to the others. Don’t get me wrong, the MacLellan sound is definitely different, but I’m surprised it wasn’t on par (perhaps had to do with the reeding…you really need a set of high-end reeds or cane to get them to sound good, to be honest). We all have our preferences, however.
Does David Atherton offer the option of threading the reed seats? I had my Naills tapped and the peace of mind has been more than worth it let alone the finer control over seating.
I didn’t notice any threads in her pipes, but if you speak with him I’m sure he’d be happy to work with you.
Well Sunday morning I spent several hours listening to the Grade Two, Grade One, and Professional MSR competition at the Queen Mary.
The MSR competition is held in a room with wood panelling and a rather low ceiling, so that the entire room resonates with the set of pipes being played. It’s an ideal situation to hear a lot of different good drone tones.
One set that really stood out was a set of Atherton MacDougalls. Very round and seamless, as if there’s a very even spread of harmonics across the spectrum. Among the loudest drones, but not brash, brassy, or buzzy in the least, simply full. The whole room was humming with that big OOOOOMMMM. (That guy also had one of the loudest chanters.)
Many of the pipes did not stand out in any way, including some nice vintage Hendersons etc.
The lowest volume of any drones was a set of MacLellans. Sweet and smooth and quiet.
A set of Gibsons sounded nice and strong. A set of McCallums (supposedly the Volkswagens of the GHB world) had an interesting distribution of harmonics, like none of the other pipes, quite nice.
How I wish somebody had had a set of Cushings there.
The Atherton MacDougall is definitely an instrument to be reckoned with. I was very pleased with my bandmate’s set.
Also interesting you said a guy had a set of “quiet” MacLellans. Mine are quite loud and robust.
Perhaps it’s a matter of context. Your MacLellans are loud and robust compared to what?
I’ve only heard two MacLellans played in context with a lot of other well-set-up pipes, at that Drone Listening Party and at the Queen Mary MSR competiton, both mentioned above, and on both occasions the MacLellans (two different sets played by two different players) were the softest pipes present.
But admittedly that’s a very small sampling, just two sets, and any conclusions anyone tries to come to from that might be misleading.
For example, I heard from someone who attended a top-level competition in Scotland who stated that the softest drones there were a set of Atherton MacDougalls. (Played by one of the best pipers in the world by the way.)
So much I suppose is player’s intent, how they’re reeded, etc.
Reeding has a lot to do with it. I’ve played with some Wygents and Ezees before and noted the volume was significantly less than it is with my glass Rockets.
I’d describe my pipes as similar to Henderson, however not as much in the higher harmonics as the typical Henderson.
Also it might have had to do with the wood type. Mine are in African Blackwood, however most MacLellans I’ve seen have been in Cocobolo (which reportedly produces a mellower sound than ABW).