SOLD – The Duncan MacRae firm made pipes in Glasgow from 1897 to 1952. One of their patented innovations was the “hempless slide.” This is a nickel tuning slide sheath with grooves cut near the top that can be sprung slightly to act just like a hemped tuning slide. Most of them lose their shape after some decades and folks have them cut short in favour of a hemped tenon. Some forward-thinking soul was smart with this set and left the upper bass slide “hempless” as original. It is quite firm and perfect for the bass upper. There is no telltale patent number on any of the nickel slides, suggesting the pipes were made around the time or before the patent was approved. Patent-numbered slides give 1909 as the date of the patent. The use of blackwood would suggest a manufacturing date later in the first decade of the last century.

Another distinctive MacRae feature of this set are slightly different bore measurements between the two tenor drone tops.

This set has typical, beaded MacRae nickel and ivory mounts. The tone is also typically MacRae:  boomingly robust and steady, locking in nicely with my Kinnaird Edge reeds. The set was polished, but not stripped and refinished.  A crack was invisible-whipped under one tenor stock. A slight separation in one ivory ring was filled. There is a little-fingernail-sized chip in one projecting mount.

MacRae has become a popular name in recent years, and every MacRae  bagpipe I have through the shop confirms for me why.