Small box containing four Highland bagpipe drone reeds

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Small rectangular cardboard box containing four Highland bagpipe drone reeds. The reeds are made of Spanish cane, finished but unused and complete with hemp and bridal and sealed with red sealing wax One of the reeds is broken. Part of a collection of bagpipe making tools from Robert Thomson, Bagpipe Maker, Leicester, England.

This material from a bagpipe maker's workshop is typical of the tools, raw materials and products of the trade. Many bagpipe makers also made reeds for chanters and drones, sold them but also used them for testing chanters and drones in the finishing and setting up process.

Most of the bagpipe makers making Highland bagpipes lived and worked in the Scottish cities such as Edinburgh and Glasgow, but there were also some famous names in London such as MacGregor, Ross and Starck. Robert Thomson, Bagpipe Maker, is unusual for being Leicester, England, where he set up business in the 1950s and was still making bagpipes in the mid-1960s. His business is now closed.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-000-579-819-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: The Bagpipe Collection
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  K.2002.1325 - 1326.4
• Date: 1930s - 1950s (date of use)
  
• Material: Cardboard and Spanish cane
  Box containing Highland bagpipe drone reeds
  
• Dimensions: 164 mm H x 57 mm W x 29 mm Depth
  
• What: Box containing Highland bagpipe drone reeds
  
• Subject:
• Who: Robert Thomson (collector)
  
• Where: England, Leicester (place of use)
  
• Event:
• Description: Rectangular cardboard box containing Highland bagpipe drone reeds made of Spanish cane.
  
• References:
  • Baines, Anthony,. Bagpipes. Occasional Paper on Technology 9, Oxford University Press, 1973. 
  • Campbell, Jeannie,. Highland Bagpipe Makers. Magnus Orr Publishing, 2001.
• Translations:
• Related Records: