Chiff and Fipple Forums

Kevin L. Rietmann wrote:Jim, I meant the original seller, he was a testy chap. No wait...it was somebody on here who'd seen the pipes. He kept insisting they'd been burnt. Well, who knows, but tannic acid will certainly discolor the stuff too, and the patterns of blackening were on the bottom of the reg caps like you'd expect if they sat on a bag for decades.
Nice dingus, Mr. Pat. May be I'll scan mine and post photo. Sean Folsom drew a couple of eyeballs on one of his! Great yucks.

Yup that was me.... LOL!!! I saw the set of pipes at a yard sale..the owner told me that it was in a fire at her previous house but survived.

irishpiper wrote:

Kevin L. Rietmann wrote:Jim, I meant the original seller, he was a testy chap. No wait...it was somebody on here who'd seen the pipes. He kept insisting they'd been burnt. Well, who knows, but tannic acid will certainly discolor the stuff too, and the patterns of blackening were on the bottom of the reg caps like you'd expect if they sat on a bag for decades.
Nice dingus, Mr. Pat. May be I'll scan mine and post photo. Sean Folsom drew a couple of eyeballs on one of his! Great yucks.

Yup that was me.... LOL!!! I saw the set of pipes at a yard sale..the owner told me that it was in a fire at her previous house but survived.

And you believed her? Shame on you!

PJ wrote:Some more Taylor pipes for comparison:

http://www.hotpipes.com/pipe0022.html

http://web.telia.com/~u46103557/taylor.html

Not to be picky.... but.... I think that should read "Taylor style pipes".

Patrick.

You mean that the pipes shown on one of these links are not Taylor pipes? Which one?

Eh.... both

Oh is my face red.

A search would have turned that info up.

Not to say they aren't nice instruments.... just not Taylor's.

PD.

The chanter on my site is a Taylor, I'm quite certain of that unless someone can prove otherwise. The owner had the original box and was hot on the trail of the rest of the set. It was exquisitly made, fine detailing, 5 rivets holding a sustantial ivory end decoration on the popping valve, and beautifully made chanter keys. A different class of instrument compared to those of later "Taylor style" instruments. The chanter of the Rolf Knusel set is a Taylor. The rest of the pipes are thought to be an early prototype made by the Taylor Bros. If I remember rightly Rolf said that Andreas Rogge made/reconstructed part of one of the drones, tenor or baritone. Rolf had the set with him at Miltown around 4 years ago and let us try it. I found the chanter hard to manage, but Peter Laban played away without problem. I was lucky enough to get a close look at Billy McCormick's Taylor set minus chanter in July. What a fine set, despite being so old. Billy and pipemaker Jim Daily are hoping to get the original chanter reeded and running soon.

http://web.telia.com/~u46103557/taylor.html

Im really grateful to all the experts on Taylor Bros on this forum, im sure it takes many years of study and research on their (Taylor bros) workmanship to become such an expert,
I will continue to research the history of these pipes, at the moment i am awaiting a photo of the previous owner, and a receipt which was inside the case, the bellows were misplaced or lost during moving,
Im getting this info from the aunt of the person from whom i got the pipes
and i hope to get some more help from her in my research,
i will post a photo of the case in a couple of weeks, it is leather with an inside lining and what loks like handmade hardware, case is in very poor condition,

"Im really grateful to all the experts on Taylor Bros on this forum, im sure it takes many years of study and research on their (Taylor bros) workmanship to become such an expert ..." glinjack

Naw, you pay 5 bucks, then they send you a certificate, suitable for framing, after a couple of weeks

Are you dissing my Alma Mater again?

I'm reading through these posts and find myself concluding that "Taylor" and "Taylor style" pipes will soon be in the same category as "my violin is a Stradivarius".

Kevin L. Rietmann wrote:Jim, I meant the original seller, he was a testy chap. No wait...it was somebody on here who'd seen the pipes. He kept insisting they'd been burnt. Well, who knows, but tannic acid will certainly discolor the stuff too, and the patterns of blackening were on the bottom of the reg caps like you'd expect if they sat on a bag for decades.

I was reading just last night about the methods that some flute makers used to make their boxwood flutes look old. Apparently, they'd use tea to stain the boxwood and give it an instant patina.

Steampacket wrote:. I was lucky enough to get a close look at Billy McCormick's Taylor set minus chanter in July. What a fine set, despite being so old. Billy and pipemaker Jim Daily are hoping to get the original chanter reeded and running soon.

http://web.telia.com/~u46103557/taylor.html

Thomas for your info/records.Jim got Billy's, Taylor Chanter, going fine some time back.I think Pat must be referring to some other site coz when I clicked on both your link and the other one to Seans set they were both clearly stated to be Taylor Pipes.So as ye have confirmed that yours are perhaps Sean can confirm that his are and maybe Pat can let us know what sites he is referring too?

http://www.hotpipes.com/pipe0022.html

http://web.telia.com/~u46103557/taylor.html

Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

All the observations about the Rowsome were sort of true. They had been exposed to a fire but the point that I had contested online was they had not been damaged in any way. There was a smell of charcoal - up close - and a powdery grime, maybe smoke-related. All of that was easily removed. All of the old timers seemed to use great, probably old-growth wood and the ebony one sees in old sets is fantastic.

The ivory of the regs had some marks but the ivory itself was 'sharp' - no melting or cracks or anything close like that. One of the drones had a crack but that was due to usage as that part in pipes is murdered through normal usage (bars, etc). If there was heat from a fire and the bag was leaning on it, that might have caused the discoloration. But the discoloration on its own does not look terrible either but an instant character marking.