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Now here's a real oddity! These look like ordinary bagpipes. Plain turned with continuous flat beading
and celluloid fittings. Let's take a closer look!
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The picture below starts to reveal some interesting secrets! The "wood" isn't wood at all, but rather
a rolled composite material resembling particle board!
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Above you can see that the tuning chambers are brass lined. You can also see where the reed seat and
tenon are starting to decompose, probably due to the exposure to moisture. The stocks are not lined
and they too are suffering a degree of flaking and chipping. Still, not bad for a bagpipe that's probably
50 years or older!
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Well, it's all very interesting. There are some things that impress me and others that just make me
shudder. The brass sleeves may have been a later innovation as I saw others examples without the sleeves
and they were badly worn. The threaded tenon at the bass of the tuning pin is exposed which no self-respecting
maker would do unless the material did not lend itself to proper finishing.
It would be interesting
to know who made them and why this never hit the industry's radar. What I do know is that several sets
like this were purchased by a band in Chicago just after WWII. This one surfaced and I saw another set
on EBAY however it wasn't described as being made of composite material so the new owner is in for a
surprise at some point in time. The last set I saw turned up at the Milwaukee Scool of Piping and I
will get the opportunity to study this set in detail.
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Here you can see the composite material broken in two. If you were to extend the picture, it almost
looked as if the tenon was made separately and then threaded into place which is consistent with how
a proper repair job would be done. I'm thinking that this was original and integral to their manufacturing
methods. Again, perhaps the material made this necessary.
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