1942 Hendersons

[Bagpipe'n Bob]

Here's my pride and joy, a set of half mounted 1942 Henderson Great Highland Bagpipes. When these pipes were made at the height of the war, supplies were in short demand as well as manpower so the instrument itself was bored out at the Henderson facility but finished and turned at the Lawrie and Sons bagpipe makers down the road. Henderson's have an especially robust drone sound and these are no exception. Peter Henderson first started making the instrument in 1880 and the shop shut its doors in 1973. These pipes pictured here were made long before the advent of mass production and kiln drying. The African Blackwood that comprises the drones of these pipes was most likely acquired through a local shipyard where they were employed as ballast before being brokered off. Often that ballast would sit for 40 years or longer in the hold of a ship before being auctioned to cabinet makers and pipe makers, often one and the same. So this wood was well cured and quite dense adding to the richness of the bass drone especially. The projecting mounts are ivory (and they cost nearly $400 a piece to replace so I'm relatively careful with them with 8 mounts in all). The only thing that is more recent is the hand engraved ivory by David Marshall Silverworks in Canada that was retrofitted (Note the fine hand-engraving on the slides and end caps David did for these). The insrument also holds further intrinsic value to me as they were from Canada where my Uncle first enlisted in the RCAF in WWII. Uncle Henry survived the Ploesti Oil field raids and so I've mused that possibly the pipes may have intoned the "RCAF Walk Past" in some celebration or military function that he may have attended. I felt compelled to display them here as I haven't seen a lot of instruments in this section. Also, because the pipes are made of many substances near and dear to SR collectors I figured many here could appreciate them for their visual impact alone, and as an example of good quality artisanship. Also, I was wondering if there were any other pipers that frequent this site and thought this may be a way to lure them in. Cheers!