Piob Mor

. All of our pipes are hand made and numbered with personal attention to detail. These great pipes have a bright, refined tone, and they are steady as well as easy to reed. The bass drone is loosely based on a turn- of-the-century Henderson system. You will notice a particularly large bushing in the top, which gives it a bright, overtone rich, strong presence. The tenors are based on a MacDougall tenor bore, and are closely related to the Robertson bore design of the late 40’s early 50’s. They have a very “unified” spacious ringing tonal quality when they are well reeded. The reed seats are wide enough to accommodate the modern synthetic drone reeds.

The bores are responsible for 90% or more of the tone of an instrument. We now use the latest in gun drill technology for our bores. This tooling yields a straight, highly polished and very consistent bore which is beautiful to look at. It is also an arguable point as to whether there is any correlation between smoothness of bore and tonal quality. There actually is a strong argument in favor the slightly rough bore. [One of current theories of hull design for racing boats says that a rough surfaced hull slips more easily through the water. And furthermore, why are golf balls dimpled? because they go faster through the air?] However most pipers like to look down the bores of a set of pipes to see how smooth they are, and ours are smooth!

We are proud to now offer sets with sterling silver ferrules in high relief Celtic knot work designs by Walker Metalsmiths. Theses continuous patterns are cast from original carvings by Steve Walker. Steve uses a combination of plain knot work, and zoomorphic knotwork, with different designs for each type of ferrule; stock, tenor top, bass top, tenor ring cap, bass ring cap. The designs are uninterrupted all the way around the band in the true tradition of the ancient Celts, and are a really spectacular addition to the pipes. We have a full description of the dimensions for these pieces in the replacement parts/ repairs section.

For a long time we had been looking for some natural material that could take the place of ivory for the projecting mounts. We were so happy to discover antler, and now use it on our premium sets of pipes. It has much more color variation than ivory, and makes a very unique looking set. The Elk, and deer antler are a great substitute for ivory. Antler has similar physical properties to ivory, isn’t too expensive, and can be used with a clear conscience as only the “sheds” the animals drop each year are used. It is a bit lighter, and more porous, so the pores must often be filled. Moose has the whitest color with the least activity in the grain, and while it is available, we prefer the Elk or deer which have a base color from white to an aged ivory, with gray, brown, reddish, or black streaks or dots in it.

On the #3- #6 models, the mounts are threaded onto the instrument. - a feature not always found in production made pipes –ask other makers what they do! This is not done on the smallpipes however, due to the small diameters involved.

The fully combed sets come with a high gloss catalyzed varnish, as the combing is too delicate to lend itself well to the rubbed oil finish. This catalyzed finish is the strongest surface coating you can put on wood, far superior to the traditional varnish or lacquer most pipemakers use. Unless you request otherwise, the rest of our wooden pipes standardly come with a hand rubbed satin oil finish, as we feel that this is the best finish for a musical instrument. It nourishes the wood, protects it from moisture, can be replenished regularly, and is easily repaired. While not as high gloss as lacquer or varnish, it is harder to apply as it requires more finishing steps. It will look just as good as it ever did by the time a lacquered / varnished set has begun to chip & wear.

The wood pipes also come with a brass lined blowpipe as standard equipment, a feature we believe to be unique among pipemakers. This makes the blowpipe impervious to moisture and therefore, greatly reduces the likelihood of cracking. All of our instruments come wax-hemped and ready to play, - rather than having to take the pipes apart, rehemp them, and put them together again after you purchase them. The drones are tied in and reeded, and the bag is seasoned. All of the pipes come with our Bor Mor blow valve, and the large bored Cushing mouthpiece. Our nickel mounts are a nickel/chromium/aluminum alloy, our brass is a 65%copper-35%zinc alloy.

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Piob Mor Prices:

Bag size: Med, Lg, OS - add $10 for oversize. [bag cover & chanter not included except on set #5 & #5C]

Set #1: Wood mounted, Chalice tops, uncombed drones tied in to our elkhide bag, Wool cords,

Set #2: Wood mounted, Chalice tops, fully combed and beaded African Blackwood drones tied in to our elkhide bag, Wool cords. [bag cover & chanter not included]

Set #3: Imitation Ivory projecting mounts threaded onto the drones, fully combed and beaded African Blackwood drones tied in to our elkhide bag, Wool cords. [bag cover & chanter not included]

Set #4**: Imitation Ivory projecting mounts [threaded onto the drones] and ferrules, fully combed and beaded African Blackwood drones tied in to our elkhide bag, Wool cords. [bag cover & chanter not included]

** While we will make this traditional style of pipe ornamentation, we don't recommend it. The wood becomes very weak under the ferrules - especially with natural materials such as ivory and antler. We have seen too many old sets with cracked ferrules, so we won't guarantee the ferrules or wood under the ferrules against checking in this style of pipe. Of course, this problem isn't an issue with the Delrin #4DF model

Set #5 The "Cabar Feidh Set": This set has a few additional features which no other makers offer. It has Elk antler –which can have some spectacular color variations- projecting mounts and bushings threaded onto the drones. We use Walker Metalsmiths' Sterling Silver high relief Celtic design ferrules & ring caps and plain sterling silver slides- this is over 1 pound of silver! The chanter is included and has a 1-3/4" OD silver & antler sole. The antler mouthpiece has a replaceable Delrin tip, and the mouthpiece's antler bulb is brass/plastic lined, and rimmed with 5/16" knotwork silver rings on each end. This is something you’ll see on no other pipe. The pipes are fully hand combed and beaded African Blackwood. The drones tied into an elkhide bag, with velveteen cover and silk cords. The ultimate bagpipe. Very Unique!

Set #5C The "Culloden Set": This set has the same specifications as the #5AB except that it is chalice topped, with an unbeaded, uncombed pattern. This pipe has the look of pipes that were played in the 1700’s and earlier. It has a much wider chalice top than our #1 & 2 sets.

#5C AB $3125.00

Piob Mor extras

Chanters [add $25 for Im Ivory Sole, $60 for antler Sole] #1C-D Delrin $140.00

[Due to redesigning, not available until Spring 2000 We Hope!] #1C-AB Blackwood $200.00

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Completely removable/cleanable. It is the best in wood protection as moisture never comes in contact with the wood of the stock. It puts incoming air at the back of the bag, so that’s where the initial blast of moisture occurs when you play. It also catches saliva, and condenses moisture in your breath before it even gets in the bag. This all serves to extend your playing time considerably before reeds get wet.

If purchased with a set of GHB’s: If purchased as a separate unit w/ nickel or brass ferrules:

#1-BLST2D as above w/o ferrules Delrin $45.00 ____________________________________________________________________________________________

We also do repairs, restorations and commissioned work on instruments. See the repair section for more details. If you are interested in special mountings,”Y” stocks, zoomorphic carving , etc., please contact us.

Mastodon / mammoth Ivory, and Legal [&Certified] Elephant Ivory are available upon request.

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We now offer a practice goose for our #1 thru #4 GHB’s. Includes: 2 stocks; Elkhide bag; blowpipe; brass lined if AB]; full size Delrin practice chanter with top and reed; Bor Mor valve; Big Bore mouthpiece; Practice chanter stock adaptor; tied-in, seasoned, hemped, and ready to play. The cost -not counting the practice chanter and stock adaptor- can be deducted from a full set of pipes if you want to add the drones & cords, the remainder of the stocks, and the pipe chanter at a later time. Specify brass or nickel ferrules on stocks.

#3PG-DF Delrin, fully combed & beaded, w/Im Ivory Proj. mount, sole, & metal ferrules $298.00

#3PG-AB Af Blkwd, fully combed & beaded, w/Im Ivory Proj. mount, sole, & metal ferrules $340.00

#4PG-DF Delrin, fully combed & beaded, w/Im Ivory Proj. mount, sole, & Im Iv. ferrules $318.00

#4PG-AB Af Blkwd fully combed & beaded, w/Im Ivory Proj. mount, sole, & Im Iv. ferrules $350.00

Scottish Great Highland Bagpipes