Estate Auction Pipes - with pictures

[tommykleen]

I say the regs are (probably) not Taylor because of the asymmetry of the touches. However, it appears, that on that tenor reg, there are a set of touches...put on top of another set if touches!

And I repeat:

T

[PhilD]

Hi Seth, I'm no expert but another thread on this forum revealed how important the original staples can be to reading the chanters properly. From the photos it looks like you have at least one old reed, was there any other reeds?

It looks like the chanters are of various lengths so pitches other than just D perhaps?

Thanks for sharing your find with us. Would love eventually to hear a tune out of theses sticks.

[uillmann]

Well, you certainly have your hands full. There are the number of chanters to muddle through. I would like to see more pictures of the chanter on the far left, which looks like the oxidized ebony my Taylor chanter had when I got it. If you are lucky, the rest of the set won't be riddled with as many cracks as my old Taylor set was. What a find! Congrats!

[CHasR]

Seth the common stock set on the far left of your first picture, im sure, is also worth a discussion. Perhaps you;d care to divulge its ID in the non-uilleann forum?

[Jeff Cullen]

...or divulge it here!

[Steampacket]

Taylor style chanters, but I doubt that they were made by the Taylor brothers. The ivory or bone is too coarse on the popping valves, and the sloppy riveting is a give away. The metalwork around the bellows air intake isn't up to the Taylor standard. The chanter on the far right (2nd photo) could possibly be an early Taylor C chanter with conventional keys. Still a very nice find, and could possibly be nice sounding chanters, pipes after reeding.

[uillmann]

I thought the popping valve on the far right looked to be Taylor, but there's no telling as yet if it was originally on one of the other chanters. And the bellows seemed to be Taylor as well, from the clappers right down to the green velour padding, it is very similar to the bellows in the Mercer Museum, from what I remember. DQ told me once he had doubts about the authenticity of the Mercer Taylor set, but he thought it might be worth it to revisit the museum. I spent a day there, measuring and doodling in a room with the tools and the set, and thought the work to be Taylor's, (with the exception of the bass reg,) but it has been twenty years ago, and I don't remember it all entirely. Wish I'd had a camera with me.

[Ted]

Many parts on the bass drone look identical to my Taylor bass drone. The asymmetrical touches on the reg. keys, though unusual, look like Taylor's work. What is the length of the chanters? The Glen Border pipe is also a beaut. May be a 3/4 GHB chanter, as was sometimes the case with border pipes made by GHB makers, although I am more knowledgeable about the UP stuff. A treasure trove for sure, whatever the cost. The bellows also look like Taylor's. The intake guard on the bellows may be a later addition. I have seen one like it before, but can't recall where.

[sean an piobaire]

Hello Seth !
AS an Owner of an ALMOST Taylor set by Patrick Hennelly, of Chicago, I have seen alot of American Sets of Irish Pipes over the years. Those Broad Ribbon Keys remind me of Michael Carney's work, as he was very active in re-doing various sets of American Made Pipes, by the Taylor Brothers or Other Wise. The backs of the Regs look like Taylors, but they also look like the Regs on my set. The End Caps on the Regs also look like Taylor's Work, but the G bass Looks like it might be from a Different Set. All those Chanters are also a treat and that one made out of Metal is a Rare One indeed.
What A FIND !!! Anyway You Look at It ! It will be interesting to see it all put together & Up & playing.
The Man who has to be contacted to add to the Identification is Jim McGuire in the Chicago Area. Since You contacted me through
my regular E-Mail at MSN, I'll send one back to You with Jim's Email Address.
The proof will come when it's Reeded Up, and the Sound of it will I.D. it better than any statements Pro or Con posted here,
even by the EXPERTS. I myself, was laboring under the impression that I owned a Taylor set FOR YEARS.
The Main Thing is, my Pipes Sound Good and That Does make for a certain amount of Happiness, Bagpipe-wise.
What is also interesting is that many Modern UP Pipers could care less about Old Irish Pipes, which is why most of the
Pipers out in the World aren't looking for them. back when I started out in 1972, Old Sets were the only ones that were
really available, and closely guarded. Check Your Email soon, & get busy restoring those Pipes & Chanters !
Best of Luck, Sean

[Chris Bayley]

If you look carefully at the regulator keys you can see that the large plate touches have been riveted to the normal keys (two rivets at the top end of the keys) and are probably a retro fit as they do not look neat enough for the Taylors work

The Tenor and Baritone regulators plus the bass drone appear to be the work of the Taylors and are very similar to set I have restored (being written up for publication). Would need some larger and better photographs of the remaining pieces (Bass Regulator/drones) to try to ascertain if they look like the work of the Taylors. This set (The one I restored) also had the key retaining plates with plain sides i.e. they were not dovetailed in as well

Like Steampacket I do not think chanters are the work of the Taylors for the same reasons

Seth - do you have any photos of the McAuliffe set for comparison

Chris

[Doogie]

If you look carefully at the regulator keys you can see that the large plate touches have been riveted to the normal keys (two rivets at the top end of the keys) and are probably a retro fit as they do not look neat enough for the Taylors work

The Tenor and Baritone regulators plus the bass drone appear to be the work of the Taylors and are very similar to set I have restored (being written up for publication). Would need some larger and better photographs of the remaining pieces (Bass Regulator/drones) to try to ascertain if they look like the work of the Taylors. This set (The one I restored) also had the key retaining plates with plain sides i.e. they were not dovetailed in as well

Like Steampacket I do not think chanters are the work of the Taylors for the same reasons

Seth - do you have any photos of the McAuliffe set for comparison

Chris

I just went through pictures I got from Quinn that show the difference between one Taylor chanter and one Taylor copy and the chanters I have fall right in line with the authentic keywork of the Taylor and not the copy, and of course I want all of it to be Taylor but their are some saying they think they are and some not. I'll get more pictures for sure. Too bad they didn't leave makers marks on these things. The rivets on the popping valve on the wooden chanter are a bit sloppy as the middle one is off to the side a. It but it may not be original as these were off the chanters in the box. The rivets on the metal chanters valve which is frozen on and cannot be removed are perfectly flawless.

If the metal chanter turns out to be Taylor, although it may never be proven or disproven, it may be the only specimin that has an original bore that is unchanged from the day it was made as metal doesn't shrink and move as wood does. Might be nice to compare bore lengths, finger holes, bell bore openings, etc with authenticated Taylor chanters. I've been given access to private pictures of any Taylor sets and I'm finding lots of similarities and some not, but the one thing I am seeing is that all Taylor sets have different characteristics as not one appears to be the same as the other.

Lastly for now, the Borderpipe set is stamped "David Glen" and the box had a paper that said it was 1861 so I need to verify if that falls into the time that David made pipes. Also the chanter is. 3/4 sized David Glen chanter as suggested above by Ted Anderson. I make 3/4 sets and it's a great specimin to reproduce.

Oh yea, the wooden Taylor/not Taylor sounds really good with one of Justin's reeds. I only know Tim Brittons style of reedmaking and oddly the reed that was in the box is very similar to Tim's style so I may have luck reeding it, but who knows what that reed went too.

Seth

[Doogie]

Seth - do you have any photos of the McAuliffe set for comparison

Chris

john is going to send me some pictures. He was the first to contact me and say that these are identical to the McAuliffe set that he has. Apparently he said that their are three sets with these large reg touches like this set. I appreciate all the replies as I don't know enough about these to make any judgements. Seth

[Patrick D'Arcy]

Here's a set to look at for those eager to see more of the Taylor's work:

http://source.pipers.ie/Gallery.aspx?id=104

Patrick

[Doogie]

Here's a set to look at for those eager to see more of the Taylor's work:

http://source.pipers.ie/Gallery.aspx?id=104

Patrick

Their is an ivory top identical to the Baritone top in my box of parts although the Bari done top is missing. Odd thing is, their is 2-3 tenor drones in the box too but they look like they go to a different set although they have similarities to ztaylor sets I've seen in the past few days. It's neat to see, as with many modern makers, that their are differences in all Taylor sets. No two seem to be exactly alike and in the case with mine it may be that additions like widening the keys were also done to other sets too. Who really knows for sure, as it's all a mystery and we can mostly speculate as to what we think. Seth

[dunnp]

so the metal chanter is solid metal?

not a sleeve around wood.

is that an all ivory top on the lighter colored wood chanter in the first photo?

that is a nice look.