SOLD – This brilliant Robertson set came to me in excellent condition. We gave it what Rick Pettigrew at Dunbar Bagpipes now calls the “full McGillivray refurb”: basically a strip and refinish with a check for cracks after the strip. Any loose mounts are reaffixed and the tuning chambers are gently reamed to even up the tuning action.

She cleaned up nicely: this may be one of the nicest full ivory Robertsons we’ve had on the site. It was made during what vintage expert Ron Bowen calls some of the best years of the Robertson company; the ivory patina is lovely, showing just the slightest aging. And the bagpipe played like a dream:  full, steady, seamless. This set comes with what appears to be its original chanter, not really playable with modern reeds, but nice to have.

The stocks have tapered bores, a practice adopted by the company in the 1950s and thought to improve air flow to the drone reeds.

James Robertson made pipes in Edinburgh from around 1908 until his death in 1948. The company continued with quality unabated until it ceased operations in the mid-1960s.