Macdonald Bagpipes in Tolmie, Victoria | Local business

Macdonald Bagpipes

Locality: Tolmie, Victoria

Phone: +61 402 437 043

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22.01.2022 Temptation got the better of me today, I started on the MacRaes. I reattached the bottom bass projecting mount and cleaned up all three pieces. The top section was not in a good way, the ferrule and ring had both cracked completely and the wood has also cracked. It looks like it has been repaired previously but not very successfully. This meant I had to fabricate a new ferrule and ring from some salvaged parts I have. I feel conflicted as I want the pipes to be original as possible and playable wherever they end up, not just sitting in a pipe case. If you don’t repair it properly this is not possible. I’ll glue the broken ferrule and ring back together so they won’t be lost and kept with the pipes.

21.01.2022 My wife and I moved to a town just outside of Mansfield called Tolmie which is the next town along from Barwite. It’s seems I’m not the first pipe maker and repairer to live in the area. A cool coincidence. https://www.facebook.com/403621106649326/posts/1220945994916829/?extid=e6eHkmPimOTRV8xN&d=n

20.01.2022 Things in the workshop are starting to take shape and I’m also enjoying playing the piobaireachd at the moment. I love the Massacre of Glencoe, it’s a such a simple but lovely tune. I think I played this tune to win my second VPA Gold Medal many years ago. I pulled a Steven Bradbury on that day, the other pipers chose big tunes and had issues while I had a great run with this little tune. Listening back to it I’m jumping off a lot of theme notes and getting some phrasing a b...it backwards but I’m happy to play a full tune with no big mistakes and my pipes were solid. I don’t have the sheet music either so I’m going off very sketchy memory. I’ve gone back to my old faithful pipe set up, Crozier drone reeds, Moose canister system and Moose valve. I’m playing a Ross bag as apposed to a Moose Bag as it’s the only synthetic bag I have at hand at the moment. Still playing a wooden Sinclair chanter and G1 Platinum reed. See more

19.01.2022 When you need to get your piping fix and work on the property at the same time. Who says men can’t multi task. It’s just a shame my drones were boggin

14.01.2022 Drones are finished on the MacRaes. I’m very happy with how this set has come up. I will need to fabricate a new blowpipe and stock and most likely a chanter stock. I’m going to play these for a few weeks and once I’m happy with how they’re going they will be available for purchase. Keep an eye on this page for more updates and when they become available.

13.01.2022 I uploaded this yesterday but it seems the gremlins got to it. Taking a break from setting up the workshop to have a tune. It seems huntsman spiders aren’t put off by piobaireachd

12.01.2022 The state of the stocks on the MacRaes are worse than I had feared. I knew they were cracked but now how badly as they had been wrapped in tape. Sadly when I unwrapped the tape I was faced with my old nemesis araldite. Those of you who’ve followed my page for a while have seen some of the cracks I’ve repaired but these may well be beyond me. I can’t help but think of the song The Gambler by Kenny Rogers at this time. Do I hold em and try to repair them or fold em and make new stocks.

11.01.2022 I put the MacRae stocks on today and had a play of some old favourite tunes. Once someone gets to know these drones and gets them settled down and learns their behaviour they’re going to be amazing. They have that unmistakable early 1900’s warmth and depth to their sound and this is a on a full synthetic set up. iPhone speakers don’t do them justice.

11.01.2022 I had to have a go at fixing the stock. I figured I couldn’t make it any worse. So here’s step one finished, it’s filled and airtight again. Step two will be some invisible whipping to give it strength. I’ll play these pipes for a while before I look for a new home for them so if the repair doesn’t hold up I’ll make a new stock then.

07.01.2022 Operations at Macdonald Bagpipes will be going on hiatus for a little while as we are moving house. I’m currently packing up my work area. Our new home will have a bigger and better workshop and I plan on expanding with some extra machinery to lift the standard of my pipes. As always, thank you for following my little passion project. More updates to follow in due course.

04.01.2022 Social isolation seems as good a time as any to dust off the piobaireachd. I haven’t played this stuff in many years and I’m well aware my phrasing is all over the place. That big shed in the background is where my new workshop will be. Playing my doral pipes again with a synthetic bag and Moose canister system to the drones with a wooden Sinclair chanter and G1 platinum reed.

03.01.2022 Some exciting news, today I took delivery of a set of original MacRae pipes. This will be the first set that I will do a major refurbish on for myself. I acquired them from a couple selling sets from an inherited collection of old pipes. Among the usual suspects of Henderson and Lawrie these were the pipes that caught my eye. They are in need of quite a lot of work. At some time in their life the hempless tuning slides have been cut down on the tenor pins which is a shame as ...getting them back to totally original condition will require replicating that design which is easier said than done. I’d like to know your thoughts on that, should I leave the tenors as is or get them back to how they were originally? The proportions and style of these pipes are almost perfect to my taste. I have some other pipes to get through first plus other customers I’ve got on a waiting list so it may be some time before I can provide you with updates on this lovely set. See more

02.01.2022 My obsessive compulsive tendencies have gotten hold of me and I’ve got all three drones cleaned up and going. I put them on the set up for my own drones as the stocks need massive amounts of work to fix and that will take time but I was just itching to play them. It’s very cold here at the moment so I played inside with a heater going rather than in the workshop area. It’s my usual set up, Ross bag, Crozier V2 tenors and Crozier glass fibre bass with a Moose Bagpipe Products canister connected to all three drones, Sinclair chanter and G1 reed. The drone sound speaks for itself I think. It seems you just can’t beat the magic of these old sets. The cold weather also means no difficult tunes, this is actually a medley of tunes from my days back in the Vicpol band. As a great man used to say, Just the big dots today MacCrimmon

01.01.2022 Starting to get the workshop up and running again.