SOLD – This Lawrie set is thought to date to 1905, give or take a few years. The fact that it is ebony supports the early date. The set is mounted in full ivory.

The pipes were stripped and a number of cracks and hairlines were found. These have all been invisible whipped and will give no more trouble. The blowstick stock is a poly-lined replica in blackwood with a mount that matches almost perfectly. The tuning chambers were evened up and the set was refinished.  The tuning slides were nickel and not in very good shape. These have been replaced by Sterling silver slides, hallmarked 2016. The odd tiny chip in the ivory, including a pea sized chip in one tenor ferrule, is pretty typical of a pipe of this age.

The pipes played like a dream. Not quite as robust as blackwood, old ebony offers a steadiness and refinement of sound quite specific to that wood. These pipes locked in at first tuning and needed no touching up in the 10 minutes I played them. It was an inspired sound.