I have been playing uilleann pipes for the last number of years and use to play the GHP a good deal earlier in my piping.
A friend had receive a set of pipes from a relative (sound familiar) and ask if I could help get them going. Or at least an opinion of what to do with them.
They look to be what I once called parlor pipes, a small copy of GHP, blow pipe no bellows.
I have never owned any pipes from the mid-east countries, my pipes came from Scotland or Ireland. Not sure of the origin of these parlor pipes. The bag looks like L&M and is marked in black “L&M” but feels like sand paper when you rub the sides together. I have always used L&M bags and were marked in yellow
and of course nice and soft on the inside.
Chanter plays OK if put it in my practice chanter. Not a bad looking set but I was never one for a lot of varnish on pipes. I like the bare wood, but these have varnish.
To get these things going, it will need a complete re-hemp, reeds, the whole lot.
I know I have not given you very much information, but from my description of at least the bag, do you think these pipes are from Pakistan?
Yes please post some photos, we would like to see your set.
I got, a couple years ago, a set on Ebay pretty cheap- $200- of these things, what people today call “parlour pipes” or “Fireside pipes”. (All of the biggest names in the GHB world, Henderson, Glen, etc, made these in the 19th century and called them “Miniature Highland pipes, or Chamber pipes”.)
I think people were scared off because of the brown wood, thinking that they were Pakistani Sheesham wood pipes, but I’ve seen a ton of 19th century GHBs and flutes made of Cocus of a similar colour so I bought these thinking “what the heck, it’s only $200”.
When they came I was happy to see that they appeared to be around 100 years old, of Cocus, fully mounted in real ivory. The craftsmanship and condition were amazing (once I cleaned all the grime off the ivory and threw away the bag, which looked like it had come from Im Hotep’s tomb). Also there were gobs of ancient wax or something partially clogging the bass drone middle section which I spent some time getting cleaned out.
So then I bought a new GoreTex Fireside bag from Gibson, and a chanter from John Walsh (the set came without a chanter).
Originally I just stuck some cane reeds in the drones which worked OK but I began searching for synthetic reeds due to their greater stability.
Strangely, all the reeds I tried which were designed for smallpipe drones played very very sharp in these old drones. What ended up working perfectly is using an EzeeDrone uilleann bass reed in the bass and EzeeDrone baritone reeds in the tenors.
Anyhow now I have a great-sounding set for a grand total of less than $500.
There is simulated ivory on the stocks and drone slides with a band of metal.
A photo will help best.
Not jumping to conclusions, the chanter does have some letters stamped at the top. It almost looks like RG Hardie. I may need a better pair of glasses.
Yes RG Hardie Glasgow made these “miniature Highland pipes” as did pretty much every GHB maker. If yours is a Hardie the quality of the workmanship and materials will be high.
Well if the chanter is stamped “RG Hardie Glasgow” the chanter, at least, is probably made by them. I say “probably” because at least one maker in Sialkot, Pakistan stamps their creations thus.
Next question, is IF the chanter is a genuine Hardie, is does the chanter go with the set?
Were I to examine the pipes in person I would instantly know if all or part of the set was made by Hardie, or in Pakistan. The sort of plastic used as imitation ivory is a dead giveaway, as are the sort of wood and the way the wood is turned. Hardie changed the sort of plastic they used over the years but I’m intimately familiar with the look of each.
What’s puzzling is the shape of the projecting mounts, which is unlike the sort used by Hardie on their GHBs. It is possible that they used differently-shaped mounts on their miniature pipes, but every maker who I have seen examples both of their fullsize and miniature pipes used the same shapes for the mounts, just scaled to a different size.
In any case, you will get more “bang” out of that chanter with an NSP style practice chanter/SSP reed such as are made by Gibson and Walsh. Traditional Scottish PC reeds and long and narrow while NSP style reeds are short and wide. The NSP style produces a fatter, more musical tone.
And by the way the tartan of the cover is Cameron of Erracht, devised near the end of the 18th century especially for the 79th Foot, later called the Cameron Highlanders, later yet called the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. Oddly, that regiment did not use their regimental tartan for their bagcovers but used plain green covers. So a bagcover in that tartan is a bit of an oxymoron at least in Army circles. In any case the Cameron Highlanders were merged with the Seaforth Highlanders c1960 to form the Queen’s Own Highlanders, and this regiment was merged with the Gordon Highlanders in 1994 to form The Highlanders. Through all these changes, the Cameron of Erracht tartan was retained for the kilts and plaids for the Pipes & Drums. About two years ago all Scottish regiments were combined into one huge uber-regiment called The Royal Regiment of Scotland. I don’t know the fate of the Pipes & Drums of The Highlanders.
I’m not as familiar with the Hardies as Richard is but my guess is Pakistan.
The shellac finish is the big factor. How do the drone bores look? Is the would considerably lighter? How smooth is the bore?
It could be an optical illusion from the shadows but the projecting mount groove looks narrower than the wood where the mount begins. I don’t have any examples of how that would be a dead giveaway but it seems very odd.
Those are the things that draw my attention but again, it could be the light and shadow of the photos.
