BAG & BELLOWS

I currently purchase my bags & bellows from a fellow Scotsman who makes bags and bellows for other well known makers.
The bags are 100% airtight, dont require seasoning, & are cut to Cillian O'Briain's bag template.
The bellows are 100% airtight double layer leather so require no seasoning. The paddles are cut to Cillian O'Briains template. The action of the bellows is superb, catching the air/pressure on each instroke immediately, which makes playing the Uilleann pipes way more enjoyable & a lot less work.

CHANTER


The chanter is my own design based on measurements of other quality instruments.
There are 5 different tapers & 2 flats in the bore , making it a fairly complicated design.
The chanter is thinned at the neck to give better resonance & tone (many thanks to Paddy Keenan for this tip). All toneholes are scalloped to some degree which reduces the hole chimney height & brightens tone (note that this is part of the tuning process & will vary from chanter to chanter).
Keys are attached using small brass blocks recessed into the wood which allows for keys to be added at any time to an otherwise straight chanter. This means that there are no large wooden blocks to dull the tone of the chanter. Keys available are Cnat, Fnat, Gsharp, Bflat.
Currently I use ebony, boxwood, or holly for chanters.

STOCK


The stocks are hollow with separate tubes for the regulators. I use mahogony (ebonised using a mixture of ink & varnish - many thanks to Kevin Rowsome for this tip) for the stock if ebony pipes, while the boxwood & holly pipes have stocks made from boxwood & holly respectively.

DRONES


The drones are loosely based around Cillian O'Briain's pipes with the bores being the same but lengths & general design quite different.
The base drone dismantles into 3 pieces which allows for a shorter pipecase than normal (a highland pipe case can be used - approx. 600mm long).
The tenor drone reed seat has been largened to allow for the use of Ezeedrone reeds from Pipe Dreams at http://www.pipedreamsreeds.com/ - These reeds are very suitable for my pipes as Pipe Dreams designed them around a set of drones I loaned them for a few months.
Drones are made from ebony, boxwood, or holly.

REGULATORS


The regulators are made from ebony, boxwood, or holly.
The bass regulator has a "crook" rather than the traditional design with straight bar. Advantages are numerous - stock can be rotated to any position - Bass regulator keys are closer to the middle regulator - more compact for session playing - no need to remove reed to pack pipes away - pipes fit into a smaller case. For these reasons I only make the crook design.
There is a large tuning piston & a small tuning pin for each regulator. The large tuning piston effectively shortens or lengthens the bore which affects only some notes (usually the B's and the G on the middle regulator).
The key system is a design collaboration between Cillian O'Briain, Andy Faden & myself. The idea is for the keys to be made by a 3rd party for all 3 pipemakers, thereby saving some time & increasing output. They are made from 1.5mm flat plate which gives a look & feel similar to the Taylor Bro's pipes or Cillian O'Briain's original key design. 2 compression springs are used for each key giving an excellent action with no bounce.

MATERIALS

All wood used is from suppliers who only buy wood from sustainable sources.
Brass is used for most metal parts which can be nickel plated if desired.
I do not use Ivory (especially not that nasty fake ivory plastic rubbish!!) in any of my products. I use Scottish boxwood for mounts instead which has a lovely grain.