Pipes Aflame!: Keith Jeffers Prototype Pipes Review

Hello again!

Having followed the piping scene and the more specifically the pipe making scene since I bought my first set (a cobbled together set comprised of at least 2 different sets according to Ringo Bowen)...I have kept my eyes open for quality instruments. Again I am a tone junkie. Tone addict? I don't know. All I know is that when I hear that beautiful blend of Bass and Tenors that I am looking for, my whole body relaxes and I get stopped dead in my tracks.

I thought I heard that when I was scrolling through Patrick McLaurin's blog ( visit here! www.patrickmclaurin.com/wordpress) and hit his review of Keith Jeffers bagpipes. Keith works out of Evansville, IN and his website can be found here: www.jeffersbagpipes.com Keith started playing at 19 in 2000. He started pipemaking about 2004, and played in the Evansville pipe band. One of his teachers was Greg Abbott a professional piper and well known reed maker. Having talked with Keith a few times, and becoming (dare-I-say) friends, this guy knows his stuff. Keith wants to keep the tradition of hand turning pipes alive, and is striving to put the best product he possibly can out of his shop. He enjoys keeping it a small experiment, as he calls it. Basically, a tone junkies' Heaven.

Needless to say I started following Keith's bagpipe group on facebook and drooled over the pictures that he constantly posts. Then he posted a set made out of straight Cocobolo with what I thought were integral mounts and an extra Bass drone top (prototype). I chatted with him about the set, and he offered to send it to me to review and try and sell. (I WISH I COULD AFFORD THE SET)

I opened the box when it arrived and was greeted by the beautiful smell of wood. The dang things were aromatic. I quickly tied them into a tester bag (Canmore with zipper and Grommets) and set out my drone reed collection. I started with a set of Redwood reeds. I was shocked at how easy the pipes were. Basically plug and play with these reeds. I loved the ringing Tenors, they were a little brighter than EZDrones (which I also enjoyed, however they were subdued compared to the Redwoods) however I did not like the Redwood bass in the pipes. I tried my Henderson based Rocket bass and I got the same tone. I wasn't pleased with the buzz that I was getting, just too much for my tastes. I slapped in an EZDrone Bass and I was closer to my goal. I enjoy my tenors to be just a tad quieter than my bass, but only barely noticeable. I had a barely used set of Wygent Duotones (with the double tongues, very finicky however they sound good once set up) so I threw the bass reed in the pipes. With about fifteen minutes of tweaking I had what I was looking for. I played the set for my father, who kept asking me to keep playing it. WOW. The chanter blend with the drones was spectacular. The overtones off the E were brilliant, and I found myself playing aires just So I could concentrate on the sound I was getting off of these pipes. I took them to a band practice, and a few piper friends were very curious about the beautiful pipes I had in my hands.

I currently can't figure out how to embed my soundcloud files to the blog, so if you go to this link, you can hear a straight drone, no chanter clip of Keith's pipes.

https://soundcloud.com/sjcavy/jeffers-redwood-tenors-duotone-bass

The inner bores of the drones as you can see are almost polished. Keith takes pride in his ability to turn, and you can tell even with this prototype pipe that no corners were cut here. The indentation where you tie in the bag has combing, just to allow the bag to grip better. The man has an attention to detail. The tenors tuned right at the hemp line, and the bass tuned a little more high on the tuning pin than I am used to, but it worked! As for the external part of the pipes, I'll try to let my pictures speak for themselves, however these pipes are dressed to impress.

While playing, the pipes were rock solid. They never wavered. Once I had the reeds set where I wanted them, they stayed that way. Also these pipes hum. Like literally vibrated while I was playing them, I think this is because the set barely weighs anything.

Volume: The pipes are LOUD. These are absolutely band pipes that will kill it in the solo arena, however....they are very dominating sound. I have the feeling these will stand out to the trained ear in a pipe band. These pipes would be good for a piper of any level of maturity. New pipers will enjoy being able to pop reeds in and play a set that doesn't require constant attention. Older pipers will find that these pipes can give you mountains of great tone.