T o m K a n n m a c h e r
Restoring a set of Uilleann pipes by Thomas Scott around 1810
The set can be heard on https://youtu.be/g8p-LNUREOU
Its history
Before it came to me, this set belonged to the late Hans-Jörg Podworny, a German professional piper and pipemaker. He started pipemaking in the eighties and is noted for having constructed his own multidrone set in the nineties with two drone groups with separate switches, giving Ddd‘ and ee‘.
I had seen the Scott set on one of my visits at his home, and I showed great interest as I was working on music of its period at the time. (ending up in my CD „Music of the Gentlemen Pipers“, together with Hubert Arnold, harpsichord and pianoforte) After his death I was allowed to put it into playable order, which I started to do in September 2021.
Before, the set was owned by Alan Ginsberg. He put it on auction in 2004 on ebay, from where Podworny procured it.
The name of the maker is printed on the main stock:
SCOTT
INVENTOR
HOLBORN
BARS
LONDON
The chanter, bass regulator and baritone drone also carry the name SCOTT.
The Scott in question, so I learned from Prof. Christoph Heyl, University Duisburg, is Thomas Scott, who worked between 1806 and 1810 in 17 Holborn Bars. He indeed worked on several innovations on woodwind instruments concerning their key systems, as the double flageolet, flute, clarinet and oboe. He aimed to make wind instruments playable in a polyphonic style. So his note „inventor“ is not mere boasting, as he kept several patents, but there has no one turned up covering uilleann pipes construction.
There is a Latin inscription on the main stock, hidden below the bass separator, reading:
SCOTVS FECIT + RUSOVIVS REFECIT
MCMLXXIII
which means: Scott made the set and a „Rusovius“ repaired it in 1973.
Who is Rusovius ? Could it be Rowsome ? Then it might be Leon Rowsome, as Leo had died in 1970.
Kevin Rowsome, his son, cannot remember his father having used Latin language or digits, nor did he remember the set. The additional parts – bass regulator cap, bass drone ferrule and u-shaped terminal piece – do not look like Leon’s style, but rather Leo’s. By close examination it is possible that the roman figure reads MCMLXVIII, thus 1968 ? This would speak for Leo, and some replacements - mounts and ferrules - show a style of his. He was a highly esteemed restaurator of classic sets. Perhaps we’ll never know.
The state in which I received it
The set is made of boxwood and brass, mounted with ivory, and the craftsmanship is excellent, as is the state of preservation of the original parts.
There are almost no traces of use or extensive playing, which is very unusual after 200 years. It seems as if it never has been played in a serious way, only as if one had a go now and then. There is a faint stain at the spot where the right thumb would touch the chanter. The keys shine as never having been touched.
There was a bag coming with the set which Podworny had started to make. He had tied in the cup and blowpipe stock before sewing. Maybe he had planned to ask someone to have the sewing done. The blowpipe stock carried a brass tube, sawn off in oblique form, to take up the valve.
There was no bellows.
When I first assembled the parts without much consideration, it looked like a withered bunch of flowers, with its short bass drone, which protruded in a wrong angle from the other pipes, and its terminal part entangling in the bass regulator extension.
The bass regulator moved loosely about around the connection tube in the main stock.
The chanter had a simple modern brass top with a provisional cork plug, of Podworny make. The chanter itself has 6 keys, from below: for d sharp, f natural, a sharp, c natural, d‘‘‘ and e‘‘‘ on top.
These keys, as are the regulator keys which close on wooden pipes, have flat circular pads which carry the old-faishoned leather pads glued with sealing wax. All of these were leaking, and so Podworny had closed the holes with tack film to be able to have a go playing. The pad spoons are shaped to precisely align with the rounded chanter surface, so the pads act like finger tips.
Different from the modern positions, the c natural key is set on the right side, to be played with the right index. The d‘‘‘ key is on the left, played by the left little finger.
The bell is embellished by an ivory mount only, down to the very bottom there is no ferrule. I added a bottom valve, held by a wrapping, made by myself in bone and brass.
The finger holes seem to be in the original size and shape, except for the e holes, and, most severe, the back d hole, which is as big as to correspond with the bore width, as if someone would have tried to tune a reed with broken d by opening. The e hole appeared as if widened a bit in the outer half of the chimney. Restoring its former shape brings both e notes to perfect pitch.
My aims of refurbishment
were, to get the set in playable order, for myself using it in concerts for rendering the music of ist period, with the contemporary playing techniques, which I am ready to learn. The set reveals the sight and preferences in tone, regulator sounds, tuning, balancing – as long as no changes have taken place in former refurbishment works. But these again left traces adhering to their special period as well, and if successful from the general musical point of view, I accept them as one way to do a good job in their own right. I myself wanted to have as little substantial changes as possible, and as much changes or replacements to be non-invasive and reversible as possible.
Getting all staunch: Wrappings, Bag and Bellows
All the pipe tenons are covered by thin cork sheets, familiar from recorders and flutes, but they all have additional wrappings. These had to be adjusted by adding more thread. I used the traditional hemp, no longer yellow, but white in colour. The uppermost layer I made of waxed dental floss. Over the reeding and tuning procedure the wrappings settled and had to be readjusted several times. By assymetrical cross-wrapping, I corrected some non-parallel pipe settings.
I have been given a fine bag from a friend and fellow piper, Joachim Hoffmann, living close by. As I had made myself a bellows for another set, which fits exactly by style and design: Teakwood clappers, sewn to black leather, with brass fittings, I added it to the set, and it fits well. The blowpipe (if it is meant to serve as such at all) that went with the set appeared too ugly, so I took one of Joe McKenna make which served on a practice set I have for loanig to students.
I achieved complete tightness of the bag with a mixture of 1/3 of glycerine and 2/3 of violin-maker’s glue, with 3 % of sorbine acid added, as learnt from Andreas Rogge.
The main stock cup was a replacement, very roughly turned, made in brass and a light hardwood. It looks different from the one in Ginsberg‘s auction pictures. It is most likely that it is Podworny’s work from a time after he fell severely ill, which affected his movement abilities.
The first attempts to find a way of reaching the regulator keys showed that the body was too long for me to get to the lower keys. As the main stock cup was longer than necessary, I ordered a new one from Hendrik Morgenbrodt, and he made it within a week of time precisely after my measurements and drawings, thus saving some 4 cm of length. I tied it into the bag with a strong black multi-strand nylon thread. Still very long, after assembling, the body was now comparable in its size to my Robby Hughes c set, which I am well used to, so I expected ways to get it played easier.
The main stock is a solid stock with the usual channels to take up the pipes. Former channels have been closed, to open the actual ones in consequence. Different from the modern setup, the channel for the tenor drone is set below the one for the bass drone. Thus the tenor lies off the player, and it is awkwardly difficult to handle for tuning it.
There are two cracks all along the stock’s length, well repaired. The switch is a typical traditional L-shaped one, with an ivory handle. All seems to be original.
In a first test to play the set in ¾ form, some leaking appeared, and by thorough research I found that the channels for the regulators and bass drone were not precisely round, due to the cracks. I had to regain the basic shape by adding some putty to the walls where the wrapping of the pipes come to be.
Reeding and tuning the chanter
I exchanged the top against another fine Podworny top with bone mount and a stop key, this made by myself. I removed the sticky tacks and the old key pads and put new ones on, consisting of a dense foam gum, 2 mm thick, which accept the shape between key and chanter wall in an ideal way. In this way all the pads of the regulators were exchanged as well. This stuff is very tolerant against the minor side movements of the keys in its shoulders. They may easily be exchanged against more orthodox solutions.
Obviously the bore has been widened and is no longer in its original state, so the mouth width is 12,5 mm, which is quite wide for a chanter of this size. It eventually came to be tuned in very slightly sharp of B - +20 cents - in 20 degrees Celsius.
The first playing attempts showed a too sharp back d and a terribly flat, weak c sharp. After giving the back d hole a credible size, the reed could be pushed deeper and the c sharp improved, but remained flat and weak. I keep a rather big stock of reeds, well made by another friend, Hans Reusch, who served me with them for students and my other sets in my collection. I tried all of these in the chanter, and all candidates agreed with my tuning judgement of „slightly too-sharp-B“. One appeared the best fitting, and I went through the usual work of shifting, opening and closing, shortening and tuning, until, in the end, I reached a state of perfect tune, at the same time being as close as possible to my personal habits of playing.
The solution of the weak c sharp problem I found in the old contemporary fingering scales: The one in Colclough’s tutor showed considerable differences to modern fingering, and in the case of the c sharp demands in ist most practical version to play it with the upper three front holes open. Played this way, the c sharp is 10 cent below the tempered tuning, sounding very well to the drones and the a regulator notes. Played with modern fingering, it is a bit sharp, and does not endure much pressure. Still, I resisted the temptation of opening it, fearing to spoil the selection of c and c sharp. I prefer trying to include the Colclough fingering into my technique. Hard practicing and a chance for mental training.
I found out in various tutors how the fingerings for c natural and c sharp changed through the centuries and decades:
C sharp:
O’Farrell: Only left thumb, left ring finger and right little finger closed, on the knee.
„Tipping“: Modern fingering. There is no sharp printed in the diagram.
Colclough: All fingers open, except left index and thumb, c sharp key open, chanter on the knee. „Tipping“: Modern fingering.
„Exception“ for „quick passages“: Only the three upper fingers open, chanter on the knee.
Crowley gives no fingering for c sharp, only the „traditional scale“, d mixolydian, with c natural.
Rowsome: „Staccato“, modern fingering, „Legato“, left index and middle finger open, on the knee,or dito, off the knee.
C natural
O’Farrell: „Scale of the natural notes“, but with c sharp and f sharp accidentals printed.Three left fingers open, upper thumb closed, off the knee.
Colclough: All fingers open, except left index and thumb, c natural key open, chanter on the knee. „Tipping“: Modern fingering, on the knee.
„Exception“ for „quick passages“: Only left index open, chanter off the knee.
Crowley:
„Traditional scale“, d mixolydian, with c natural. Index of left hand alone open, right hand off the chanter altogether, off the knee.
„Chromatic“: Left thumb and middle finger closed, right little finger closed for holding,chanter on the knee
Rowsome: „Staccato“, modern fingering, „Legato“, modern c sharp fingering, off the knee.
„Chromatic with…keys“: left thumb closed, c natural key open, off the knee.
Ennis, Vallely, P. Sky and Brooks give the modern fingerings throughout..
A set by Maurice „Moss“ Kennedy, who continued Crowley’s business, acquired by a student of mine, is hardly to tune on both notes, as can be heard on recordings of pipers using pipes of that make.
To sum up these confusing variants of c and c sharp
fingerings, it turns out that the Scott chanter shows very good tuning and the best sound following the fingerings of Colclough as described above, he being a contemporary maker.
This fingering is quite far from my usual modern
one-finger-c sharp, so I first practiced a compromise: To do the modern one-finger way plus opening what I assumed to be the c sharp key. Over the
months following, the c sharp key note rose in pitch, and eventually it appeared too sharp. As the d‘‘‘ was hard to get at by fingering, I tried to play it with that key, which I succeeded,
getting it easy and pure. So I consider this key as being the d‘‘‘ key proper. In dry climate, the d'''fails if played the modern way,. In humidity above 50 % it plays, being tuned on the sharp
side.
In spite of the changes in the bore conception, the chanter appears to be of high quality in its nowadays setting. It gets the octave with surprisingly little effort. The whole compass up to e‘‘‘ is at hand. Both the bottom d forms are playable in a comfortable pressure level, without warbling. Back d is secure and does not break within the pressure level of all the other notes. All the chanter has received as tuning additional aids is a 2,5 mm pointed brass wire from bell to c sharp hole, the reshaping of the upper half of the e chimney, ensmalling indiarubber pieces in the d, b and a holes and a piece of cardboard in the bell. Not much different from what you meet with on modern chanters.
The Drones
The tenor and the baritone drone are original in all parts. They carry cork layers as well. There are wrappings added anyway, as the slides would be slack without. They tune easily in their wooden slides and appeared to be reeded according to the chanter tuning without problems.
The rich decoration of all the drone’s mounts are in excellent condition, only one small ring is lost.
The bass drone
As mentioned, the bass drone appeared to be comparably short. Still it was easily reeded to be in tune to the chanter pitch. The blowpipe replacement, a 6 cm brass tube, sawn off in oblique form, I took as an extension piece first, as it helped to correct the ugly angle in which ther drone protruded. The u-pieces of the trumpet are connected to its pipes with wrappings, so the whole connection feels unstable unless staunchly wrapped. And they turned out to be in the wrong order, so, exchanged, they corrected the angle, and the "blowpipe" became obsolete.The slide part seems to be a replacement, its ferrule shows a different embellishment pattern (Rowsome style?), and the terminal u-piece was a roughly shortened part of any brass instrument tube. The end mount, however, corresponds in design with the ones of the smaller drones. Maybe there had been a straight slide part, now lost, which was exchanged in favour of the then faishonable u-shaped part. So I constructed a straight tube as replacement which take up the parts connected to the u-tube, following the design of the terminal parts of the other drones. The overall design now looks more beautiful to me. As I had no boxwood at hand, I at first chose cheap wood from a curtain bar.
Eventually, I ordered a final boxwood version to be made by Hendrik Morgenbrodt.
With the trumpet part assembled the right way around, the whole drone group looks very organic and well-embedded in the whole body.
The Regulators
The small regulators are all in their original state and shape, with some cracks in their ivory mounts, well repaired with thread through tiny holes. They were easily tuned with modern reeds, which had been designed for soft sounding concert pitch pipes.
Their notes correspond with the modern smaller regulator setup, but lacking their uppermost notes.
Thus the notes are positioned:
g‘ f‘sh. d‘
b‘ a‘ g‘ f‘sh.
The d‘ key is somewhat prolonged and crooked to the side in a way that it is easier played along with ist neighbouring notes f sharp and g on the tenor. As it is thus more difficult to play it along with the bass a or g, I assume that the bass regulator is a later addition to the always established ¾ set. As the crooked key has not been exchanged afterwards, it may be assumed that the maker did not want to have the bass a going with the baritone d, but rather being played alone.
Another explanation for this unusual shape of this key is, that it is easier with it to open the with the baritone d and f sharp key together, so achieving an f natural. The tenor a is nearby, so a d minor triad – d, f natural, a – are so close at hand, that I often play it erroneously.
g‘ f‘sh. d‘
b‘ a‘ g‘ f‘sh.
The g key of the baritone was broken in its bearing, thus missing on the pipe, although part of the lot. I soldered a piece of brass on it, bored the pivot hole and put it into place.
The bass regulator
This pipe consists of four parts: The extension, the wooden keyed part, the wooden separator and the reed cap.
The extension is a cylindrical brass tube, stopped at the end by a small ivory end cap without tuning pin, similar to those on the small regulators of 18th century pipes. It has three keys. The lowest key protrudes off the pipe end into the air in a weird shape. At first, I had assumed this design being somewhat improvised, because of original parts being lost. But after I found the picture of William Talbot playing his pipes in An Píobaire, Vol. 7, No.4, from the same period, showing the same design, I take it for original.
The wooden keyed part resembles the smaller regulators. It has a cylindrical (!) bore of 11,5 mm diameter throughout. It has three keys. The lowest of these could not be opened, because it hitted the lower neighboring key of the extension from below after hardly a millimeter of opening grade. At first sight it appeared mysterious why one of these so well-made keys does not do its job.
The only solution I saw was that a short connection piece which prolonged the keyed part by some 4 cm must have been lost. There is a trace of this structure: By playing the a key, its pad holder has received a little gap, filed deliberately by the maker or owner, from hitting the screw which holds the spring of the g key.
I found a brass tube which served perfectly as provisional replacement (A connection piece for the lath of an old falboat); it allowed to slide the extension for tuning the g, and the a and g keys got free space for playing. By this addition the tuning of the single notes was determined, as described below.
The wood of the keyed part is not of the very best quality: There are branch structures in their grain who have caused visible shrinkage close to the second highest key. Surely the bore must be affected.
The separator is made of wood. The air supply goes by a narrow bore parallel to the tone bore proper, fed by a brass tube from the main stock, coming from the baritone regulator channel.
This seems to have been the sole connection device, before Scott had formed a brass ribbon, with a provisional look about it, which is meant to hold the stock and separator more firmly together. In spite of that he had shaped the separator very precisely for a snug fit, but both parts move considerably, once the playing movements affect them. It had to be fixed more solidly to the main stock. I bored a tiny hole into the main stock and another one into the separator, both face to face with one another, and a short fitting wire in these holes keeps the separator firmly in position, held onto the stock by the brass ribbon.
This bass regulator is very different from the form we are familiar with today. The most interesting question is, which notes it offers and how they were tuned and arranged in relation to ist neighbours.
I have measured the positions of the holes and compared to the positions of all my other 5 sets, and to the sets in B described in the archive of Na Píobairi Uilleann. I also compared them to the sets described in the Seán Reid Society Journal. They all corroborated the following note positions.
By testing very many reeds (more than 20) for finding the note arrangement it appeared that the notes are added to the key setup already at hand as follows:
c‘ b a g )
g‘ f‘sh. d‘ )
b‘ a‘ g‘ f‘sh. )
d e /
So, besides the familiar note groups in the small regulators, there are three interested note combinations by the bass and baritone at hand which are only hard to get at on the modern set while playing the chanter with both hands.
c‘ b a g )
g‘ f‘sh. d‘ )
b‘ a‘ g‘ f‘sh. )
d e /
gives a c major triad with the e from the chanter.
c‘ b a g ) gives a b major triad with the d sharp
g‘ f‘sh. d‘ ) or a b minor triad with the d from the chanter
b‘ a‘ g‘ f‘sh. )
d e /
c‘
b a g )
g‘ f‘sh. d‘ )
b‘ a‘ g‘ f‘sh. )
d e /
gives a d major triad with f sharp from the chanter, not accessible
comfortably because of the crooked d key on the baritone.
The reed nearest to this tuning still showed that:
C and a were approximately pure pitch,
The b was 50 cent flat,
the g was sharp,
the e was flat
and d was about pure pitch.
I considered all the cross note groups which would be offered in these hypothetical combinations and I always came back to the note setting as given above. The most interesting alternative setup was, not to include the hypothetical connection piece between the keyed part and the extension, and to connect both directly, with a decoration ring in between, similar to the design of the Talbot pipes. Thus the g key gave g sharp, and the d and e remained roughly on their notes, playing stable sounds. The a key opened only very little, as mentioned above, but the ring helped.
But there were two facts speaking against this setup:
1. The a key was very difficult to get at without touching the g key along with it.
2. The same holds good, playing the d – f sharp group on the small regulators.
3. The g sharp on the bass would be of very little use musically.
Thus it is very unlikely that Scott had this note arrangement in mind, and I returned to the setup above.
There was no way to tune the b by non-invasing methods. I opened the b hole and tuned it to non – tempered pure pitch, which it now willingly plays. I was encouraged doing so by the fact that the keyed regulator piece appeared visibly shrunk near a and b by age.
I found a reed which had promising features for tuning, and
I worked my way forward step by step, trying to solve the problems in the notes from a down, which tended to warble and overblow heavily. I scraped it thinner and thinner until the warbling
ceased, but still the overblowing was too heavy. Another, larger reed brought better results, but still demand high pressure control to avoid overblowing on d, e and g. At the end I achieved an
acceptable tuning with the help of ensmalling the g hole wth a brass ring, forming a chimney protruding some 2 mm into the bore. and inserting a 1,5 mm wire into the separator. I
constructed a cap with tuning pin and piston, but it didn’t make tuning the bottom D easier. This note tends to overblowing, double toning and giving all kinds of noises. The best results I
achieved on the big reed by narrowing the staple with a wire and thinning down the blades until it gave a very low crow. These works I did in a
central-heated environment in winter, so by April and May the humidity grew, and this helped a lot against overblowing. In the end all notes are in good tuning, overblowing appeared in pressure
grades beyond chanter playing, in 55 % humidity. I found that the most problematic g plays best if the low e is opened along with it.
Anyway, reeding this pipe was quite challenging, as it is cylindrical in 2/3 of ist length, with increasing diameters, thus forming a kind of stepped conical system, and it offers 6 notes in a singular arrangement. So experiences in tuning a standard bass regulator is not of great help. Tuning by rushes only works in the uppermost part, and ensmalling the holes favor overblowing too much.
The reed cap
seems to be a replacement. It is much less decorated than the other ferrules, and it appears quite new. Possibly there has been a wooden cap which has been lost or irrepairably broken. I
experimented with a cork piston in the cap, to be shifted with a hook, catchin a brass hook on it. But I destroyed two reeds by shifting it too close, and without much benefit in tuning, so I
gave it up.
Playing ergonomy
I started with playing the chanter only, going with a John Addison half set, originally in d, which I have made additional drone tubes for lengthening, to achieve all familiar pitches.
The left index and middle finger had to get used to different positions of the holes. This appeared quite difficult, although I use different chanter pitches and designs all the time. It appears that these holes are positioned a bit higher up, so the index is feeling the edge of the e key spoon all the time, when set correctly. I put small wart-like guiding studs made of rwo-component glue beside the finger holes to give a feeling to the fingers for finding the just sealing position. This glue sticks well, still it is taken off again without leaving any trace on the dense boxwood.
I found the old fashion of setting the finger tips of the
left hand, in the way recorders are fingered, more reliable for sealing the holes on this chanter (and another c sharp chanter of mine, from the same period), so I apply it here as well. This way
of playing is plainly to be seen on the famous picture of Paddy Coneely, the Galway piper. I got a tip from a student of mine, Ronald Hitz, who takes care of his finger tips not to become too
dry. This helps a lot in sealing the note holes, especially in this kind of posture.
The left little finger has perfect access to the d‘‘‘key, and all the other keys are equally well accessible. The c natural key is fingered by the right index middle joint.
I fixed my carrying crook onto the chanter top, like the
ones on my different sets, to be seen on my youtube uploads. It takes the carrying task from the fingers, thus leaving them the task of playing only, comparable to the fiddler’s shoulder support
which secures the fiddle in position, giving the arm and hand full freedom for stopping the notes.
For my double-jointed right thumb I found it easier to play without stress, to have a thumb rest constructed from a padded piece of bone, fixed by two plastic straps, easy to be removed without a trace, if preferred.
Playing the drones, the first thing coming into mind is how difficult the tenor drone is to be tuned. It lies under the bass regulator, besides the bass drone, and demands awkward movements from the right hand to slide it into tune. This shows that the bass regulator is most likely a later addition to the basically designed three-quarter set conception. Fortunately the pipe and reed keep their pitch very stable.
The small regulators appear easily played with both hands on the chanter in the familiar way. I have made me a sling for to attach the set to the left shoulder, based on my experiences with my other full sets. It took several experiments in lengthening and shortening, turning the stock in its cup, and changing the attachment spot, ending up with it set on the brass ribbon which holds the bass regulator.
After lengthening the touch of the f sharp key with a sheet of brass, fixed by a double-side adhesive tape, I am now able to play all the keys of the small regulators and the three upper keys of the bass, but stretching the right arm to the limit. Luckily the bag neck is long enough.
The bass regulator keys for e and g I only can play with the right hand taken off the chanter, and they are most likely not designed and set for being played along with neighbouring keys. So I have to practice quick changing movements of the right hand off the chanter to the low bass keys and back, which obviously was an important part of handlich this kind of pipes in those days. While playing the lowest groups on the small regulators, I accidentally hit the low d on the bass with the forearm, so I assume this being a technique aimed at, so I shall practice including it, thus playing:
c‘ b a g ) for a g triad, and
g‘ f‘sh. d‘ )
b‘ a‘ g‘ f‘sh. )
d e /
c‘ b a g ) for a d triad.
g‘ f‘sh. d‘------ )
b‘ a‘ g‘ f‘sh. )
d e /
As the whole set is quite long and massive, I use a sling, fastened to the separator with ist holding brass ring, which passes over the left shoulder, to prevent the set from slipping to the right when releasing bag pressure. It is easily adjustable for best access, along with the turning of the stock in its cap, to the regulator key field.
The sound of music
These pipes show all those attractive sounds of a flat set of the time: a soft humming pleasant set of drones, well-merging regulator chords and a chanter with leading sound and volume contrasts between closed and open fingering, at the same time with surprisingly little difference in tone colour between the single notes. Was this striven for by the maker, with the esthetics of classical and orchestral music rather in mind than our modern image of traditional pipe music ? It can give the tunes an expressive quality, while the shadings and colours of the notes are under the player’s command, applying the different traditional fingering techniques. However, due to the reaming up, the chanter has gained a bit of volume, and possibly lost a bit of the subtleties typical for one of its pitch.
The regulator chords offer a greater variety than the modern standard setup. The bass regulator extension notes, only accessible with the right hand off the chanter, show the approach to the use of the instrument as a replacement for a church organ, with the chanter muted ("organ stop") as noticed by the contemporary sources. The chanter can be tuned perfectly on all notes, without noises, warbling or excessive pressure demand on single notes, including the neuralgic e, g and b octaves, although the reeds have been chosen by trial-and-error from a big pool let from my friend Hans Reusch. They have been made mostly for concert sets, still they work very well in the chanter and small regulators, after adjustment in all sorts of methods: Opening grade of the lips, narrowing of staples with rolled pieces of paper, insertion grade, along with wires in the pipes, local pieces of rushes, ensmalling of holes, limiting of key opening grade, and more.
All in all, after extensive practice, it will be a great pleasure playing these pipes, and with the repertoire of its period, they will open up a new experience of historical Irish music for me.
Summary
This set appears to me to be a very early attempt to form a three-regulator set, later to be termed a full set, of uilleann pipes. It strikingly resembles the set of William Talbot, as shown in his picture on the cover of An Píobaire, Vol. 7 No. 4. He is said to have these pipes made by himself, described as to have been more complex than any set before. Arises the question: Has Scott, the "inventor", merely copied Talbot's constructions ? Or the other way around ? Talbot’s pipes were much admired as having had reached a state of development never reached before, and often copied by contemporary makers.
There are some features in the construction which show a somewhat experimental state of development: The wooden separator, the cylindrical keyed part of the bass regulator, the position of the regulator notes and chanter keys.
The special chord groupings of the regulators, the easy access to the entire compass between d‘ and e‘‘‘, the well tuned chromatic notes and the key setup of the chanter show that the maker aimed at a quality apt for an art music approach of bagpiping, resulting in a definitive „parlour“ instrument, able to render as many different keys as possible to the d drone, with the celto - romantic music business in London's theatres and concert halls of the time, along with the „national airs“ of Ireland and Scotland, in mind.
Comments on the set in the social media
In July 2004, there began an extensive exchange of comments to the set in Chiff and Fipple, in which several aspects were discussed.
I hereby want to correct or complete some statements and assumptions found there.
The set has not been made by a Scott which was active between 1826-1845, but by the one mentioned above. In this period the designs of key and mounts followed a different fashion.
The chanter is „hosed“, i.e. reamed to a wider diameter, indeed. But this work must have been done by someone who knew this task quite well or he was merely lucky. The chanter plays faultlessly in its new conception, following the contemporary fingering rules. This is possibly a different conception than the basic one before. Why this change has been done, we never will know. Maybe, the bore has changed too much by climatic influences and the shrinkage of the boxwood in consequence, as can be seen at the wooden keyed part of the bass regulator. As the measurements are in the range of well-described and less touched sets of this period, it is likely that the changes are not that severe as to judge it being spoilt.
This also because all the notes of the the whole compass
are very cleanly tuned in both octaves, including the neuralgic notes e, g and b. No sharp low e, no sharp low g, no sharp high b. And the notes above high b, up to e''' play in pure pitch,
without any corrections.This chanter is the best tuned of all in my collection, sounding most pleasant at the same time.
Maybe it is now closer to the basic shape as it was after
the climatic changes had affected it. Mr. Rusovius must have been a master in retuning old chanters.
The chanter has not been shortened at the bottom.
There are no traces of added two finger holes, one 2 and 7/8ths of an inch the other 4 and 1/16 of an inch from the foot. There are the usual lower two fingerholes, found on any chanter. The e‘ hole had been opened a little bit for voicing in its outer half, easy to be restored.
The pitch of the chanter is about 10 cent above B, and corresponds very well to the unchanged drones and small regulators. There is no reason to assume the adaptation of the set to modern tuning pitches, as this historical set corresponds to contemporary pitches.
The „alternate thumb hole“ is an e‘‘‘ key for the third octave.
The drones have not been shortened, except for the bass, which in consequence received a replacement in the modern u- shape, with the original end mount used. My replacement in historic design has the same length and inner diameter and tunes very well to the set.
After Hans-Jörg Podworny had acquired the set, it went to Andreas Rogge for restauration, a fact well accepted by the commentators, who acknowedged him to be the best man to undertake the task.
He eventually had not taken up the work out of economical reasons: It would have been too dear to put all the long time into calculation of a professional pipemaker. So it went back in 2004 from Rogge to Podworny, who had a go on the chanter some times, before it remained in its case up to his death in January 2021.
My background as uilleann piper and maker
I am a retired professional teacher for guitar and traditional music in a public music school in Bonn. I have been playing uilleann pipes since 1976. Founder-member of the Deutsche Uilleann Pipes Gesellschaft. LLCM diploma of the London College of Music in Traditional Irish Music / Uilleann Pipes. Regular performances on stage and in studios over 40 years. CDs. Youtube.
I have built a set of c sharp regulators and further minor parts as blowpipes, bellows, bags, chanter tops, keys and the like. I have refurbished or done final building works up to perfect playability on 4 full sets of different pitch. I invented my multidrone system, as made on order by A. Rogge and H. Morgenbrodt, somewhat varied, which offers changing drone pitches during playing.