This set of circa 1960 Hardie full-ivories has been rebored with pre-1940s Henderson bores.

Bob Hardie’s pipes were well crafted and he used superb wood. They are favoured by pipers wanting a quieter pipe, and as a result aren’t as popular as pipes with a fuller sound. I asked the Henderson experts at Dunbar Bagpipes (Jack Dunbar worked at the Henderson shop in the 1940s) to rebore these Hardies according to the old Henderson specs. Only the internal specs of the bells were untouched. The bass bottom joint is a slightly smaller diameter than Henderson so it tunes a bit higher on the pin. The result has been as I’d hoped, with a much fuller drone sound, but still steady and easy to reed.

This bagpipe was in almost perfect condition, and appears to have been played for only a short time. There are some almost imperceptible chips on a couple of the projecting mounts. The finish is original. The blowpipe was missing, so a polypenco-lined blackwood blowpipe was made to match and an old ivory projecting mount turned down a bit to match.

Since reboring, this pristine pipe is robust and much more Henderson-like than the orginal, mellow tone.

Email me about this set.