Scottish Smallpipes

Imported Hardwoods.

African Blackwood (Dalbergia Melanoxylon) and Ebony (Diospyros Crassiflora) have been commonly used in woodwind instrument making, including bagpipes, for several hundred years. I source African Blackwood from Tanzania and Ebony from Nigeria.

Of all the timbers I use I find African Blackwood to have the clearest tone and most volume which can be useful features for A smallpipes in particular. Ebony again produces good volume .A slightly rounder sound with richer harmonics. 

Local hardwoods.

Over the years I have made pipes in a variety of local hardwoods…Laburnum, Holly, Yew and fruit woods such as Apple, Pear and Plum depending on availability. All these timbers were historically used for pipe making before the importation of tropical hardwoods became common.

With these woods I tend to season the timber myself starting with the log or tree. They all have their own distinctive look and tonal quality but generally tend to be slightly softer in sound than most of the imported hardwoods. Tonally Laburnum is one of my favourite timbers characterised by a rich sound with strong harmonics.

Boxwood (Buxus Sempervirens) is one of the hardest woods growing in the British Isles. Slow growing with a dense grain it is great wood to turn and has been a common wood for woodwind makers for hundreds of years. It has an attractive creamy colour which darkens a bit with age.

I am lucky to have a great source of English Boxwood. This is slower growing than European box and as such is extremely dense and some of some of the most stable I have come across.

Produces a robust sounding instrument with rich harmonics.