This set of Atherton MDs won the World Pipe Band Championship in 2008 when Pipe Major Terry Lee played them in the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band. Terry went on to order a higher-end Atherton and passed this set on. It was made in 2007.

Dave Atherton learned his craft with Charley Kron in Dobbs Ferry, New York in the late 1990s and early 2000s and went on to open his own firm. His signature pipe was this reproduction model of a set of circa 1880 Duncan MacDougalls played by the late Roddy MacDonald of Wilmington, Delaware. A remarkable craftsman, Dave made an immaculate instrument with meticulous craftsmanship and incredible tone and steadiness. I would unhesitatingly call him the best pipemaker of the modern generation. He still makes a small number of instruments out of his shop near Chicago.

This bagpipe is in excellent shape, showing only some very slight tarnish marks on the nickel and some wear on the stocks. This imitation ivory is in perfect shape and the tuning chambers are as true as the day the pipes were made. Dave was always careful to make pipes out of exceptional pieces of African blackwood.

The tone is full and rich on this superb rendering of Duncan MacDougall’s original work.