David Burleigh, the most prolific, and now retired, maker of Northumbrian Smallpipes very helpfully numbered his instruments from the mid 1970s onwards topping out at a whopping 3,269 in 2012. The exact dates for some instruments are known and from those a rough timeline can be derived. Sometimes, however, sets come along with the potential to cause confusion!
First up is an early set from the mid 1970s I had a play on last year and it was one of the earliest numbered sets I have seen – and there’s an obvious challenge in reading the number – is it #66 or #99?
The number is always on the low E key (with the name on the low D key) and in all chanters I have seen the numbers are read with the E key on the top of the chanter. This would mean that this set would be #99. In later sets there is a number marker – it’s not consistently applied pre/post the number but it is non-reversible!
Here’s the other set that caused some confusion; the owner had asked me to fettle a set and the number was reported (entirely legitimately!) “81 something but it’s hard to read”. I was expecting something from the mid 1970s. As it turned out the set was a good 20 years younger dating from the early 1990s:
The number marker that can be seen here appears to be the Greek letter Psi (Ψ) – it’s not known why this was chosen, it may well have just been an unused / non-roman type stamp that was too hand!
Here’s a an interesting set of pipes that recently emerged from a long forgottern cupboard after the elderly owner passed away. It’s a well made set of Northumbrian smallpipes probably dating from between 1900 & 1920 and when I first saw them – from an unknown maker. Some of the work was reminiscent of Clough & Picknell – but subtly different and overall a little more refined. There were also some unusual features that should be considered definitive – the drone ferrule decoration is particularly deep, each of the ferrules are pinned and the bellows have a specific inlay pattern.
Based on photographs, comparison with other sets and in conversation with others, it had tentatively been identified as ‘that chap from Bebside’ and ‘somebody Elliott I think’ but it wasn’t until I had them in my hands that this could be confirmed. Both chanter and drone stockes are stamped ‘W ELLIOTT’ and the standing part of the two large drones are also stamped. Elliott is mentioned by Cocks in 1933:
Elliott, William; Bebside A colliery joiner by trade, aged 68 years, William Elliott has made several sets of small-pipes of African black-wood. He has also, with great ingenuity, devised and made a set entirely of aluminium, the various parts being cast with the bore ready made in them. This idea of metal pipes is not new, but the use of aluminium is William Elliott’s own; there is a set of brass small-pipes in the writer’s collection, having a cast chanter.
William Elliott is an excellent maker of bellows, and has experimented a great deal with unorthodox materials for reed-making. He has even made them from ordinary wood shavings on occasion, and his chanter reeds of pinewood are beautiful specimens of fine work. He is also a maker of violins, and as a piper was one of Henry Clough’s pupils.
This set is blackwood and brass with ivory mounts, and a 9 key chanter (standard 7k + G#’s).
Each of the drones has a tuning bead but with an unusual mechanism; the beads don’t have holes themselves, rather they slide up to expose the tone hole and have a surprisingly positive feel. There is a tiny stopper in the body of the drone to limit the travel of the bead (which actually turns out to be a tiny screw).
The chanter B hole has a neat wooden lining which indicates that this hole has been plugged and redrilled.
High G# key head has a flattened side which is reminiscent of Clough / Picknell
Drone ferrules are all pinned – hopefully none of these will need to be removed
Drone standing part inserts have a ferrule on the reed seating, this is to prevent splitting and is not a common feature
Interestingly a second set of Elliott smallpipes recently appeared in an auction – but these were a later set mounted and keyed in aluminium and had a more recent set of bellows. It turns out both sets belonged to the same player – it’s not known if there was a connection to the Elliott family .
