I just received a 3/4 Set (sans chanter) from Sam Lawrence, and I am here simply to rave about the incredible quality of this instrument. Sam REALLY knows what he is doing. The set is in ebony, boxwood and nickle silver, and from a visual point of view, has some of the cleanest, most elegant and well executed lines of any set of pipes I’ve ever seen. They have the weightless look of the best Egan, Reid and Harrington sets. This guy really knows his way around a lathe.
Tonally, I’m at a loss for words. The set spent about 10 days being bounced around the Northern Hemisphere by the f***ing idiots at FedEx, so I was pretty worried about the condition of the reeds when they arrived. However, with only a stern glance at the bass drone reed, the set is absolutely singing. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a better set of concert pitch drones. They’re fat, warm and absolutely stacked with overtones. It makes my teeth rattle to play them. The regulators have slightly smaller bores is standard, and as a result work harmoniously with the drones without overpowering the chanter. It sounds more like the chord in drones is changing, rather than the jarring traffic accident HONK so many concert pitch regulators have. The set is incredibly airtight and well set up.
I spend most of my teenage years playing pipes very seriously, but became frustrated with the limitations of the instrument to exist in non-traditional music settings. I sold my set, and have spent the last three years at the Berklee College of Music, studying jazz violin and not really thinking about Irish music at all. Last summer, a good friend lent me a Martin Preshaw chanter (which I ended up buying from him), and I’ve since gotten back into piping with a vengeance. I realized that traditional music (on both fiddle and pipes, both American and Irish) is where I feel the most free and at home, and it has been incredibly good to return to the fold. This set from Sam has only poured a couple gallons of gas on my rekindled enthusiasm for the pipes.
Anyway, I just wanted to extoll the virtues of Mr Lawrence, and say that if you’re looking for a truly fantastic instrument, you should definitely give him a call. He is professional, punctual and makes absolutely incredible pipes.
