James Robertson’s Edinburgh pipemaking company is the most consistently superb pipemaker I know of. From the firm’s founding in 1908, through Robertson’s death in 1948, right to the company’s dissolution in 1967, the quality of the instruments remained consistently high, especially tonally. While I test every set of pipes I offer, I’ve often thought that Robertson is the one make I could actually send out without testing and be fully confident of what my customer receives.

As expected, the tone of this set was full, rich and steady. I removed a set of Ezeedrone reeds from my vintage Henderson set, plugged these drones into the stocks with the same reeds and they locked into tune after 10 seconds of tuning. Typically lovely.

While all drone pieces are original, the set has several compromises. Two tenor stocks and the chanter stock are not original, but the visual match aside from the scribe lines and bead size is excellent. The blowpipe is also not original, but the poly-lined replica and imitation ivory mount made by Dunbar Bagpipes is superb.

The ivory shows signs of a well used set, with some minor chipping and staining here and there. Overall, though, this is a solid and toneful Robertson bagpipe, priced to reflect the slight deficiences.