Pipes Aflame!: December 2015

Sorry it took me so long to write this post on my MacLellans, but it took forever to record the videos and I am still not satisfied with the audio. However in the time it took em to do it, I got a practice set of uilleann pipes to replace the half set that I sold. So there's that.

Let's begin!

I got my MacLellans back in 2008, about two years after I started piping. About a year later, I received them. Opened the box and my Dad and I just sat down an said wow. Roddy does some amazing work. The lines on his pipes are clean, the beading and combing are pretty, and the bores in his pipes almost look polished. Roddy lines the blowpipes with a brass tube to prevent cracking. He also pins his metal mounts onto the wood which I think is lovely and shows the true hand-crafted aspect of these pipes. I ordered an Original profile set with his Standard MacLellan bores. I got light Cocobolo projecting mounts on African Blackwood, with bronze ferrules and aluminium tuning pins. Needless to say, there is a lot going on on these pipes. I'm thinking about changing them to flat bronze tuning pins, but who knows...

Here's a picture of me (with the pipes) and my brother, who is a snare drummer (which is why the thousand yard snare-stare).

So, currently my set up consists of a Ross pipe bag without the canister system (it's super dry in California and I think it sounds better without the system) and a Dunbar Elite 1 chanter with a Troy McAllister reed. I don't really enjoy the Dunbar chanter, it just isn't for me. The high hand is hard to tun, and there is tape everywhere which was typical of the bands that I used to play in.

For the drones I switch back and forth between an EZ drone bass with Redwood tenors and my complete Rocket reed set that I bought from Ringo Bowen. With the Rocket reeds the pipes are a little quieter with a very pleasant hum to them. They lock in easy, and are very air efficient. I'll post a video....

That is in a chapel in Oceanside, CA right before playing at a friend's memorial. Super air efficient with the big bore volume. I love this set. It's a little lighter than the Millennium sets that he makes, but they're still pretty heavy on the shoulder. I'd love to buy a set of Millenniums just to say I own a set.

Now onto the EZ drone bass and Redwood tenors. I threw these in because I love the tone (shout out to Patrick McLaurin), and I was curious to try them. Whoa. Just whoa. I don't have them completely calibrated correctly, so my strike ins are a little temperamental however they are LOUD. but not an overwhelming loud. They have a very rich and full tone. The bass isn't too buzzy, and the tenors are loud enough to match the bass. They resembled the pipes that I tried with cane reeds in them. I think I'd play the EZ/Redwood combo in a competition over the Rockets. They just sound better to me, however for a new piper with a wad of cash I'd recommend the Rockets. Easy to set up, just plug and play.

I recorded this outside of a small awning where my phone was taking the video. You can hear how the drones fill the area that they are in. It's pretty neat to listen to these pipes. I love having other pipers play them so I can hear how they sound. Comments? What do you think?

Forgive me for the plug, and he doesn't know I am doing this, but Roddy can be reached here:
http://www.highland-pipemaker.com/

He is super easy to work with, will basically do anything you can think up. Apparently his daughter is working with him, which makes it even more imperative that we keep his business going steady. Family businesses nowadays are hard to come by. Keep killing it Roddy!!!