The joys and dangers of Ebay pipes

**OC Richard** · 24th February 21, 09:43 PM

Originally Posted by Grump

Nice pipes. The tarnish on the slides suggest silver? or are they aged nickel? What were they using for drones and did they come with a chanter?

The mounts are EPNS which is "electro-plated Nickel Silver".

In plain English the mounts are solid Nickel Silver/German Silver/Cupro-Nickel (which was the most common metal for Highland pipes, buckles, cantles, dirk mounts, etc from c1840 through c1940) then Silver plated.

It was common for pipes in the old days, makers like R G Lawrie offered bagpipes in plain or engraved German Silver, silver plate, and Sterling Silver. Here's a c1905 R G Lawrie set in Ebony, Ivory, and engraved German Silver. It looks identical to silver & ivory Lawries of that period save for the lack of hallmarks on the mounts.

Kintail pipes were African Blackwood.

Unlike most makers, Kintail not only stamped their name but also the date on their pipes. Multiple Kintails I've heard from the 1980s have been extremely nice in tone, and I expect this set to be like that. The bass drone in particular should be rich and powerful.

Here's a silver & ivory set of Kintails from 1984, a superb-sounding set played by my Pipe Major

The chanter coming with the Ebay set looks rather more modern than the pipes themselves. We shall see!

As a bonus there's a polypenco Practice Chanter.

About current Ebay offerings, the bidding is going up on this Gillanders set, which started very low. Back in the 1980s a band-mate played silver & ivory Gillanders which were amazing in tone.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-McL...p2056016.l4276

**Grump** · 25th February 21, 05:59 AM

Thanks for the info it's all very interesting. Im sure there are a few of us who cant wait to hear the rest of the story. Wonder what they are like to blow, always a consideration for aging pipers.

**imrichmond** · 25th February 21, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

About current Ebay offerings, the bidding is going up on this Gillanders set, which started very low. Back in the 1980s a band-mate played silver & ivory Gillanders which were amazing in tone.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-McL...p2056016.l4276

It looks as though someone could get a real bargain with these Gillanders & McLeods. If I didn't already have two sets of 1970s G & Ms I would be tempted to bid on them myself. I love the tone of G & Ms.

**OC Richard** · 26th February 21, 04:51 AM

Originally Posted by imrichmond

It looks as though someone could get a real bargain with these Gillanders & McLeods. If I didn't already have two sets of 1970s G & Ms I would be tempted to bid on them myself. I love the tone of G & Ms.

Yes indeed, I have a current bandmate who plays an old full-Catalin-mounted Gillanders set and there's an Open solo competitor who plays an old silver & ivory Gillanders set.

In both cases the tone is superb and utterly stable. I've heard the Open player compete in piobaireachd a number of times and his pipes hold from start to finish.

The thing about those old pipes is that many predate Iain McLeod joining the firm in 1972. Robert Gillanders was making pipes by 1930 and was later joined by his son (also named Robert).

**OC Richard** · 3rd March 21, 07:34 AM

The 1981 Kintail set I got off Ebay arrived yesterday.

Here are a couple photos taken with my phone in bad indoor light.

I measured the specs, as I do with all pipes that pass through my hands. They're nearly identical specs to a friend's 1988 Kintails which sound great. The tenors on this 1981 set have very slightly larger bores than that 1988 set.

I'm anxious to get some air through them, however my wife is working from home all day today, so I can't make noise until this afternoon.

**Grump** · 3rd March 21, 08:34 AM

Congratulations. A wonderful looking set of pipes. It is difficult for me to refrain from asking a million questions . I'm sure there are others here that are as curious as I but I must admit after being "worked over" by E-bay once or twice I felt nervous for you.
Cheers, John

**OC Richard** · 6th March 21, 06:08 PM

When I inspected these pipes, and especially when I re-did the hemp job, I realised that these pipes are exactly as they left the Kintail shop in 1981, with the original shop hemp job (funky as usual) the original drone reeds (cane) and the original bag (cowhide).

The silver was tarnished a bit, and the imitation ivory had yellowed a bit, but other than that they were straight from the box. The bag was as new and was perfectly airtight when I tried it.

I talked to the original owner, he said his father-in-law bought them in 1981 intending to learn to play but never did. They've been out of the box maybe ten times, he said.

These drones don't behave like Lawrie drones, so I had to experiment with tuning-slide positions, but with (original type) Kinnaird drone reeds these drones produce a big rich tone. They were a joy to play!

I've tried two other 1980s Kintails and they played just like this, so it's as expected. Grieg Sharp opened Kintail in 1971, so this set was made at the ten-year anniversary.

My thing with pipes is the same as with Highland Dress: if you're judicious and patient you can acquire fine things for a fraction of what they would cost new. These pipes were a thousand dollars, which I reckon was a tremendous bargain.

EDIT: I found that the tone-chamber (socket) on the Bass Midsection had two issues

1) The tone chamber had the "Coke bottle" narrowing of the bore under where the ferrule is. A pipemaker told me that perfectly straight/true tone-chambers leave the shop, then under certain weather conditions the tone-chamber expands slightly however the area confined by the ferrule cannot. Drones like this are a problem because even when hemped as tightly as possible once the hemp gets past the narrow bit under the ferrule suddenly the joint becomes loose.

2) The tone chamber was out of round. Drones like this are a problem because even when tightly hemped they can leak, making the drone unstable.

Happily I have a set of adjustable hand reamers and I've done these trueing jobs many times. I used to send my pipes off to a pipemaker to have the chambers trued, then he told me "you can do it yourself, I don't put it on the lathe, I do it with a hand reamer. They're just a few dollars". And so I have done ever since!

Yesterday I trued that chamber and the pipes are perfect now.

**OC Richard** · 7th March 21, 08:12 AM

Wow MacLellan pipes for just over a thousand dollars. You almost never see them that low.

Yes they're a plain set but I'm sure they will have the big MacLellan sound.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/MacLellan-b...YAAOSwA8FgRC8h