Diagram of Highland bagpipe chanters and drones

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Chanter and drone diagram in the form of a small sheet of cardboard with slightly glazed finish on one side. Includes pattern sketches and dimensions for Highland bagpipe chanters and drones. 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: 000-000-579-823-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: The Bagpipe Collection
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  K.2002.1333
• Date: 1930s - 1950s (date of use)
  
• Material: Cardboard
  Chanter and drone diagram
  
• Dimensions: 306 mm L x 125 mm W x 4 mm 338 mm L x 205 mm W
  
• What: Chanter and drone diagram
  
• Subject:
• Who: Robert Thomson (collector)
  
• Where: England, Leicester (place of use)
  
• Event:
• Description: Chanter diagram on sheet of cardboard.
  
• 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: