I was wondering, did they acid-stain the fruitwoods in the old days, or was that only used for box? Would they use very tight-grained fruitwoods? I’ve seen pipes turned out of apple that were more than a bit fuzzy, not the best material, but it perhaps wasn’t the best bunch of boards for the job.
The remark in the book The Amateur Woodwind Maker about how if the woodwind trade had developed in America they perhaps would have used hard maple instead of box, is interesting. Maybe some of you with experience with baroque winds could chime in here about possible substitutes for ebony etc.
I recall reading an interview transcript in The Northern Fiddler where someone mentioned making sets out of elder (“bour-tree” I think was the spelling there), and boiling the pieces in elderberry juice to stain them black. No mention was made as to how much of a set would be made from elder.
I’ve used Mesquite and its pretty dense and hard…
I’ve heard it reported that crabapple and quince (aka wild pear) are both noticeably superior to the domestic variety, at least for woodwinds. Easy to believe, considering that orchard trees are fertilised and pampered for growth, not to mention that they were selectively bred to put more of their energy into big fruit.
Bill
Hmm, has any wood in history been cultivated specifically for musical instrument use? Or has music always been too marginal to bother? With something like African blackwood or Englemann spruce the idea is a bit ridiculous, but with apple and other fruitwoods you can at least imagine instrument builders keeping their eye on a patch that was growing in suitable conditions - south facing, etc. - and picking out what they needed when trees had to be culled from orchards and the like.
I was reading a book on wine, sometimes a vineyard in one spot will be primo real estate or whatever they call it - producing Vin du Crem Appleation, whereas right across the way will be another batch of grapes that’s merely Vin, since the growing conditions aren’t quite as spot-on for some reason.
The stock for a Taylor set is pear or apple.
I have heard it tell that a good number of sets in the hands of run of the mill pipers were made of holly and other woods that have not survived (unlike the more upmarket instrumetns). I have seen broomstickwood with black gloss paint in early 20th century sets so who knows what else was around.
Fruitwoods, broomhandle woods, just goes to show you what people can do in a pinch But that doesn’t necessarily mean that these were the best choices - just people making do with what they had to hand. While these uncommon choices sound novel, I think Peter makes an important point - where are all these sets today if they were any good? If they were worth keeping, wouldn’t there be lots of examples still around?
djm
Given conditions in older Irish houses damp and woodworm will have taken care of the softer woods long ago.
Not to mention that some people just don’t care.
It’s also true that the latter part of the 19th century was not kind to Irish culture and music; depopulation, starvation, and emigration didn’t make for a good climate for preservation.
And sadly, when there were later movements towards cultural revival, sometimes the old flat sets were ‘out of fashion’. Flat sets were either neglected or attempts were made to “convert” them to the louder, higher-pitch standard - bits sawed off the ends, toneholes and bores reamed out (sometimes with whatever was handy) 
The few sets that remain unmolested were either in the hands of a few stalwart partisans to the old solo tradition, or somehow happened to be stored in conditions where their mothballing didn’t result in their destruction.
Bill
Broomstickwood would be great for your homebrew projects - I was reading in Baines’s Bagpipes book about Italian pipe (zampogna) bores, which are step drilled, then the steps are filed away, “often roughly.” Reamers need not apply. Zampogana are generally made from olive, I think - Tedly? SeanMeister? Olive’s pretty tough stuff, again, I think. Baines mentions an Eastern European single reed pipe with a cylindrical bore, but rather deep toneholes; it can overblow a few notes, which somehow hit the octave, instead of the twelfth, as you’d expect with a cylindrical bore (e.g., clarinet). Perhaps the deep holes in effect simulate a conical bore.
I’ve a copy of two pages of very simple measurements of old chanters, mostly American-Irish stuff (Taylor and followers) but there is a Colgan, described as “Old Irish,” and an M. Egan, 15 1/4 inch legnth. “Original length 16 1/2 inches.” Scrcckkkk!
I’ll certainly be cutting my teeth on broomsticks before attempting the more exotic timbers. What sort of wood are they in general?
Cheers,
DavidG
Rather than waste time on the cheaper broomsticks (though I’ve seen a few that were OK for making wooden mandrels), why not get some half-decent beechwood or maple? Those woods will at least approximate the denser timbers better than other ‘broomstick’ woods, and they aren’t expensive.
Bill
Hi Bilh
I’ll second your recommendation for maple - it makes a lovely sounding mellow chanter, and is much lighter than the standard chanter - especially if you use plastic pipe for the wind cap.
Ausdag
The only broom handle chanter I have seen was a highland style chanter made from a piranha pine broom handle (I suppose technically it would be a pastoral chanter in A as it could change octave) made by Jim Daily.
David
In attempting to use maple for an odd prototype, I discovered that maple’s softness not only soaks up the tone significantly but effects the grosser acoustics as well to the extent that a maple chanter essentially won’t “work” until you coat the bore with oil or laquer at which point it immediatley and totally changes pitch as well as tone. There is a domestic wood that is quite suitable called Mountain Mahogany. It is quite hard and looks a bit like cocus wood. It grows in the rockies.
If I recall correctly, only rock maple comes close. The other maples are too soft. Have you ever tried coating/sealing the inside with urethane for hardness? 
djm
Rock Maple was what I used and the laquer was urethane I believe.
Hi Mirabai
Next time you use maple, try deep frying it to seal / stabilise the wood.
David
Just want something cheap to practice turning, beading, mounts and all that. When tone is an issue, then I’ll turn to better woods.
Cheeers,
DavidG