Hi Everyone
Now that I’ve gotten use to the pipes (a little), but enough to no what I like and dislike about a set. I thought I’d post a review of Ian’s work.
Please note that I have only been playing the pipes since September. Below is my opinion; I do not get any payment from Ian in any shape or form. You may also like to note that the set I have at present was Ian’s second hand pipes. The only other set I played was made by L.Dunne
CHANTER
The first thing I found was that the set was very well made. Workmanship is excellent and the chanter fits comfortably in my small hands. My D chanter sertanly doesn’t feel like it’ll brake in your hand if you gripped it to hard, unlike the L.Dunne set. Overall the chanter is lovely the Lancewood is a nice colour and dosn’t look as if it was difficult to tern. Even though Lancewood is from the hardwood family unlike Ebony (for instance). What I also like about the Lancewood chanter is it gives volume yet manages to maintane a sweetness without sounding either to sharp or flat
BELLOWS
Often (some) pipemakers spend a lot of time on the chanter, drones and regulators and forgett about the bellows. Some bellows I have tried on the L.Dunne set felt flimsy and not very solid. I’ve experienced that problem with smallpipes too. The other sign of a bad bellows is if air cannot be pumped efficiently into the bag. None of these traights exist in Ian’s bellows. The bellows to fit comfortably under my arm unlike the L.Dunne set. Workmanship like the chanter is outstanding.
DRONES
Lovely and stable, there’s been one period where I haven’t played them for a hole week. When I picked them up again they where still beutifully tuned. To give you an idea on how big a climate change they had had, the week before had been a cool 25’C when I played them again it was 39’C (75% humidity). They where easy to tune and didn’t take a lot of fiddlying around with. The barritone drone however was the exception to the rule. I had to get a bit of blue tac to flatten it a bit. As the Queensland heat had caused all the beaz wax to melt and become non existant 
.
REGULATORS
As I have not learnt how to use them yet. I feel that it would be innappropriate for me to comment on them. All I can say is the workmanship is of high quality.
REEDS
For a while the chanter reed was terribly hard to blow. But after it had settled down and gotten use to the North Queensland climate and was played in it softend and became easier to play. The drone reeds where a bit of a newsence first up. I ended up having to place a bit of blue tac to flatten the drone, because the beaz wax was non existant. The queensland heat had melted it away.
OVERALL
I would give this set 4 1/2. Why it didn’t score a perfact five was the chanter reed. It was hard to blow when it came out of the case. Although it did soften up as time went on. It would have been nice to just pick it up and get going.
CONCLUSION
When I last enquired (for a friend) a D chanter with a Cn key costed $1 200 with a six month waitinglist. For a full set there is at least a years waitlist for a set made out of Ebony. If you live in Australia (or overseas) wont a good set, don’t wont to be on a long waitinglist and don’t have money to through away. Then a Mackenzie is your man you wont be disappointed.
Cheers L42B 