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MIM (Made in Middle East)
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This is an interesting story. I had received many reports from various sources claiming that a maker
in North America was importing bagpipes from the Middle East, re-branding them and selling them as his
own. I had previously documented a few sets by this maker and had noted quality issues. Although I
had never seen his shop I did not suspect that he was an importer.
After considerable input and
on-line research I purchased a set direct from Hakam Din and compared them to pictures and measurements
of this particular maker's bagpipes. I found them to be identical in every detail!
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I don't know that this maker was importing Hakam Din bagpipes. Maybe Hakam Din was knocking off his
product! Who's to say! There is certainly nothing wrong with out-sourcing bagpipes from another maker,
rebranding them and reselling them. I'm not here to say what's right or wrong. Immediately below is
the Hakam Din bagpipe.
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So what of these bagpipes? Here's what I found.
1) After a couple of days the wood started
to shrink down and morf. The OD lost its concentricity and wound up more oval than round which means
they used green wood!
2) Further to the above, the bores shrunk down so you couldn't insert the
sleeve on the tuning pin into the tuning chamber! Further evidence of the low quality of wood.
3)
The reed seats were bored off-center.
4) The bushings in the metal caps were sized all wrong.
The bass bushing bore was small and the tenors were big plus they weren't even close to being the same!
5) No underbushings in place. No hemp stops.
6) A very tiny bell under the cap. It was
almost a straight shot through!
7) The internal bores resulted in a very flat tuning drone.
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So, what to do? If you have a bagpipe that looks like this and you're happy with it, then I guess there's
nothing to do. If you have issues with it or if you suspect that the bagpipe was misrepresented to you
at the time of purchase, well you may be able to do something. In any event, now you know!
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It's worth taking a trip to www.hakamdin.com for detailed pictures of their bagpipes. They've taken
some good close-up pictures which is more than I can say for many makers out there. Pictures below were
taken a couple years ago at a particular bagpipe maker's home. He told me he had made them.
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Here's another example of what I documented that day. I thought that is was odd for the bagpipe to
be essentially finished without the cap and ferrules installed. If someone was importing bagpipes and
then customizing them with various materials they might have them shipped at this stage of completion.
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This is another great shot of some pretty distinctive beading and combing. Pay a visit to MIM sites
and see what you can find! Start with that Hakam Din site.
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Here are some of the quality issues that were present. Note the flat spot on the top of the tuning
chamber and the bite out of the projecting mount.
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The projecting mount does not join the tenor bottom properly.
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These pictures are courtesy of someone who was having issues with his XXX bagpipe for over two years!
After reading various articles published on this website he decided to take a close look at his bagpipe.
He was very surprised and disappointed at what he found. The tenor tops are different lengths! Now
look at where the comb starts above each tuning chamber. He found other issues both inside and outside.
He went back to the maker who blamed this on "someone we had making bagpipes for us at the time." I
visited www.khalidpipe.com and was surprised to find bagpipes with the same general profile.
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Lastly, look at that combing. Very large crude teeth. This is very typical of Made in Middle East
bagpipes.
So what does all this mean? Bagpipes made in the Middle East have the potential of
being decent. Certainly some MIM makers produce a bagpipe that looks decent. There is evidence
that a shop in the Middle East was visited in the 1980's and chanters bearing the stamp of R. G. Hardie
were in production along with bagpipes. There are suggestions that other makers and retailers employed
these Middle East makers as early as 1940. So why can't they get-it-right? I don't know. They should
be able to however they appear to lack the knowledge, skill, and perhaps the incentive to make a better
product. Our best defense against inferior products is knowledge, and that's what this site is all about!
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