Hi,
can somebody supply any information on American pipemaker Brennan?
I´m not even too sure about his first name. ?William?. All I know is that he worked ~ 1920/30.
Cheers,
Hans
HI Hans-Joerg:
I think Brennan may have worked earlier than that, because he is associated with the Taylors (or, at least, I have heard people associate him with the Taylors). The date Mark Walstrom has given in his list of pipemakers is “c. 1900”. His name is given as J. Edward Brennan, and the location given is Philadelphia.
I’ve only seen one example of his work in person.
Bill
I have copy of two photos of JE Brennan, impressively enough he seems to be playing right-handed in one photo and left-handed (the caption for the photo says “Chitoge,” i.e., left-handed) in another - actually someone just reversed the negative…
He has a four-regulator set in the picture(s). A note from him mentions Chief O’Neill telling him he could never hope to make a set of pipes! Suzanne Neary up in Tacoma WA has what is said to be a Brennan set - crude stuff - Dave Power had the set shown on Chris Bayley’s site - better work but still a bit odd - the G hole on the bass reg is square-sectioned, for instance - God knows how or why!
Brennan was supposed to have been the bellows maker for the Taylors.
I have a Brennan chanter that Jim FitzGerald gave me, back in 1973.
It has the 4 ribbon keys on the back of the chanter( C natual/ F natural / B flat and G sharp). It has a very clear stamp on the lower right hand side, just above the ivory mount,“J.E. Brennan Phila.” (Phila. is short for Philadelphia, Pennsyvania) It’s a very “Tayloresque” construction, out of ebony, and it plays near A=440 with a Kennedy style reed, but the middle G is very sharp in both octaves( I think that tone hole is placed too high up). and it has no chanter top. Back in 1973, I told Barry O’Neill about it , and he thought that it might be one part, of 2 practice sets, that Brennan sent to San Francisco, California, as listed in Brennan’s order book. I didn’t trace down the 2 names that Barry gave me, so who knows? It’s a great bit of “Irish-Americana”!
Sean Folsom
I’m bringing this topic up again for several reasons;
First, how do we know Brennan was the Taylor’s bellows-maker?
What evidence is there? (Im not saying he WAS or WASNT, I’m only asking how we know this to be true…)
(732 Butler st… Chiffers have NO IDEA…)
Second, Where’s this ‘order book’? Sean, have you seen it in person?
Is it conclusive as to how many sets Brennan himself made?
Thirdly, Kevin, I’d really like to see those pictures, (are they dated?)
and when did JE Brennan live + die-- anyone know? Can we approximate his birth 1865 (+/-) and death prior to WWII?
Fourthly, tracing Brennan (I hope) will help me narrow down my real motive: the actual location where the Taylor bros made their pipes. (I’m betting somewhere in Nicetown…its burning my brains to think all these instruments were created less than 15 minutes away from where I am right now…)
Lastly, did Robert Hutton in Wilmington, to whom T Bros left their tools (presumably upon returning to NY) produce pipes? Would a pipemaker
today leave their stuff to someone who’s not going to use it? What info is there on Hutton, except that he hauled all their stuff up to Doylestown and threw it into the Mercer? 
forum error?
definitely forum error..wazzupwitdat?
I would also be intersted in any information on Brennan, for obvious reasons (I recently started two threads about a stamped Brennan left-handed full set that was recovered from an attic in an abandoned house in Pennsylvania). Mention was made of Brennan’s order book…is any information on this available? That would likely contain some great information. I’m willing to share anything I can provide…photos, measurements, etc.
Thanks!
I can try and dig out the Brennan photo, but my scanner is kaput. Might be able to take a picture with the digital camera.
NPU have the original I’ll bet. It comes from Tom Busby and Tom sent his archival photos to them at some point. Mine is a photocopy of a mimeographed copy of the original. The note I mentioned was from Brennan’s order book I believe - forget where I read about it, maybe something Barry O’Neill wrote.
“Mention was made of Brennan’s order book…is any information on this available? That would likely contain some great information.” Jeff C.
Regarding the book:
“Basically for each of about sixteen chanters he indicates length, bell and top diameters, size and distances between fingerholes and not much more. Owners and makers of each chanter are given, and a few tantalizing notes: one chanter’s length is given, with a note that it was cut down from a longer chanter.” T.W. who saw the book in 1977. Brennan didn’t use probes. The measurements are “outside” measurements. Brennan did however inherit the Taylor reamers before Hutton
I understand that Tomas Standeven had the book and has passed it on
the guy with Tom’s Bombardes is a friend of mine: I’ts about time I got in touch with him anyway+ I’ll bring it up- he was much more 'inner-Standeven-circle ’ than I. Lemme see wot can be dug up…
Dear Fellow Brennan Pipe (or Pipe Parts) owners and ChasR :
At the very least, I think Barry O’Neill could be contacted
about a copy of the J.E. Brennan “Order Book”.
In 1973 when I first contacted Barry, he was pretty happy
about the news that I had a Brennan chanter and he
gave me 2 names and addresses of Brennan’s West Coast
customers. He told me to search the old 1920s “City Directories”
from San Francisco, for the 2 customers, who both
lived in San Francisco.
Due to time and distance constraints, ( I was living in
Del Rey Oaks, about 130 miles South of S.F.) I never got to
the main San Francisco library, to look this info up.
I probably could have found more Pipes and Pipe parts.
Who knows ? Could’ve / Should Have / Didn’t !!!
I only saw 2 addresses FROM the “order book”,
but I don’t think it’s a figment of my imagination.
Barry himself, is sitting on lots of stuff that he was
going to publish, about the Irish Piping scene in the
USA. Well, maybe some day that might come to pass.
I don’t know, because I haven’t spoken to Barry in years.
I hope he’s well and going to publish…what say, Barry ???
Sean (Brennan Chanter Owner) Folsom
Hi Sean,
could you post a pic of your Brennan?
Hans
Sean, how goes it? Have you seen the photos of the Brennan set Jeff Cullen is restoring? What are your thoughts about it- any similarities between Jeff’s set and your set?
That Tayloresque chanter I got at an antique store- is that Brennan?
I’m glad to report:
(quoted)
A friend of Tom’s(Standeven) has found a copy book from someone who worked with the Taylors (but he is not sure who it belonged to). It has lots of odd news clippings, a few photos, a little guide to piping. It includes also
- measurements for 2 Brennan chanters
- a drawing of an E regulator
- drawings of an F regulator and F regulator keys
- to scale drawings and measurements for D regulator keys
It refers to a book bny James E. Brennan Sr. on Irish Bagpipes and Pipers - How Made and Played. This may not be the title of the book, but it would be something like that.
There is also listing of pipers in the area ¶which includes Thomas Coyne in Johnstown (251 New Street) who had a set of pipes with 4 regulators. There is no note on who made those pipes.
(unquote)
I’ll post whatever further info comes my way.
Well ChaS-R
You think THAT book might be related to Brennan’s order book ? HUH?
As to my Brennan chanter, it’s in storage, so I would have to find it
amidst all the other stuff in the space.
Then there’s the digital camera I have. I need to figure out how to download the 1s and zeros to my computer and then transmit the photos to C&F.
None of which I’ve ever done.
I did use “Photobucket” the last time I tried to post some photos
here (the Galvin pipes in New Zealand).
So, I looked at the photos from Jeff Cullen, and his single bore
chanter looks different from my Brennan, which is more “in the style of”
the double chanter in Jeff’s photo, but as I say, it’s a single bore,
NOT a double bore.
So someday I’ll get a photo out of my 2 “American” chanters, the
one Brennan, and one unmarked (with a top with a stop key) that used to belong to Richard Cook (the Xena piper), which was kicking around the
L.A. area about 20 years ago.
ALSO NOTE:
The TOP of this unmarked chanter…
fits PERFECTLY…
OVER THE TENON of the BRENNAN… !
More later… fellow pipers,
Sean Folsom
Add-End-Dumb to the post above…(mainly cuz i could have answered this in the last post, if i could have read the Panceltic posting thru a couple of more times)
Is “Panceltic Piper” yourself, Richard Cook ? Or is you…some body else?
Well, either way, in answer to those two questions by “Pan-Celtic”:
No, my big “Tayloresque”** D set is not by Brennan.
The Sound of the “Marked” Brennan is different from the Big D chanter, and the style of the turnings and keys, are not Brennan’s work.
Question Number 2:
Maybe the unmarked chanter is by Brennan, but it’s shape and style are different from the photo of Jeff Cullen’s single chanter.
The “Unmarked” also sounds different from the Brennan, and SO…
My “Gee-Whiz” MOMENT, comes with the fact that the Outside Diameter
of the “Unmarked” chanter top… matches exactly with the O.D. of the Brennan chanter’s Ivory mount at the base of it’s tenon, and both chanters take the same amount of wrapped thread.
So how did that happen ? Did Henry Ford work on both of these chanters ?
Is it…Just a CO-inci-DENSE ? I DON’T KNOW…and I’ll never know
for sure, as all these Makers died years ago, and I never was any good at Seances…So Richard, tell the story of how you came by the
Unmarked Chanter and the cobbled together set that went with it.
You see, dear readers, once upon a time…
Pipers were so desperate…that they would go to enormous lengths to have ANY kind of Irish Pipes…EVEN if they weren’t PERFECT !!!
sean imperfect folsom
** “Tayloresque” is a very good adjective, coined by David Quinn.
Yes Sean it is me. In a moment of mental weakness, or drunkeness, or both, I came up with the hokey title “pancelticpiper”.
I don’t like that name, but there it is.
Hello and Thanks Richard !
I have to say I still have the two EYEBALLS you painted on the popping
valve slieve, on that “Unmarked” chanter !
Quite a few people notice it and start laughing, as the flap
acts as a mouth, dropping open for low D, and then closing again.
It’s a brilliant piece of comic artwork, that little touch of yours !
Over the years, when I’ve used my C set for traveling,
I’ve brought along that chanter to play in D, (without the drones)
with other “D” musicians, on my trips around the country.
So it has come in handy, and has been played, it’s not just
gathering dust on a shelf…
(now…instead…it’s in a case in storage, for the last year).
As to the “Pancelticpiper” monicker…
Well, you are the man with the Irish Pipes,
the Scots GHBs, Scots smallpipes…
AND that Cornish double pipe by Julian Goodacre,
SO you ARE a PanCelticPiper for sure !
How’s that Kaba Gaida I sold to you doing?
Give me a call sometime and shoot the_______ !
Regards Sean