This set of pipes was identified as a Duncan MacRae set some years ago by my friend Ron Bowen. The voluminous drone sound would bear this out.

They look to be quite an early set, Ron suggesting they might have come from the early years of Duncan MacRae’s shop, which began around 1909. They are made of ebony, an early wood that would also suggest an early date of manufacture. So they may have been made within a few years either side of 1912.

As is typical of an ebony set well over 100 years old, some hairline cracks became apparent once the finish was stripped off the pipes. The bass stock, one tenor stock, the blowpipe, and the blowpipe stock all had small fissures that have been invisible whipped and will cause no more trouble. One tenor top had a small chunk of wood missing on the shoulder and this has been filled. The pipes were refinished and all of the natural mounts and nickel were polished. It’s possible that the ring on the bass drone was replaced at some point, and it’s possible that the chanter stock is not original. The nickel ferrules on the stocks don’t have the scribe lines that the drone ferrules have, so they are probably replacements.

I asked my friend Matt MacIsaac play the pipes for me for a recording to be used in an article on Duncan MacRae on the pipe|drums website. This article should appear around the first week of September, so the pipes can be heard there. The sound was rich, steady and extremely full.

Although MacRae pipes flew under the radar for many years, they have enjoyed a rebirth due to the playing of solo and band phenom Stuart Liddell. MacCallum bagpipes makes a reproduction that you can see offered lower down on this page.