Does anybody have any information about the American pipemaker Hutton?
To the best of my knowledge, Hutton ended up with the Taylor Brother’s tools, and from there, the tools, as well as a Taylor set in rather derelict condition, were sold to the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA. A fine example of Hutton’s work is/was played by Dennis Igoe (sp?) (of Co. Cork?.)
That is my rather hazy recollection, although the better informed may have more substantiated information.
Thanks! Does anybody have any pics of Hutton-items?
Hi Hans,
That set Denis Igoe now plays used to be Tom Busby’s main set of pipes:
Rick O’Shea tells me that this was a “beautiful” sounding set of pipes, so Hutton must’ve had some talent. The only recording I have of Tom playing them is fairly distorted though, so it’s hard to tell what they actually sounded like. The drones are a bit wobbly on the recording too but Tom was a really great piper, I don’t mind a bit of wobble. I’ve not heard of another Hutton set, either. Don’t know if he stamped his stuff.
Denis’s uncles were the Lavin Bros of Roscommon. I think Jim Lavin’s still with us, must be about 80 now. You can get pics of the Taylor/Hutton tools from the Mercer museum, too. They’re nothing too exciting to see, though, a big pile of reamers as I recall - don’t think there were any exotic jigs and the like to make those regulator body dovetails.