For 15 of his 23 years, Brian has wrestled the angry ostrich in search of the non-linear experience it seems to induce. The most telling manifestation of this is reeds that are extremely resonant and joyous to play.

Nate and Brian share a workshop in Rockaway Beach, in New York City.

"I needed a large-capacity bellows that would be a comfortable, dependable, efficient workhorse that would stand up to excessive wear and tear. The bellows Mike made for me is an outstanding piece of craftsmanship which is all of these things plus some. You simply cannot do better than a Mike Dow bellows."

- Jerry O'Sullivan - 2000

Please visit his web site at www.archcarving.com for more information.

Jerry Gibson started piping at the age of 12 in the UK. He was taught by Pipe Major Ian Laidlaw of the famed Black Watch Regiment until he joined the Seaforth Highlanders in Invernesshire, Scotland. At the young age of 18, he was tutored by P/M Donald MacLeod at Fort George regimental Seaforth Depot and was then taught by P/M William MacLeod of the 1st Battalion in Gibraltar where he served as Depot Piper in 1957. Jerry's long history in pipe bands and extensive engineering capabilities has given him an advantage in designing some of the best sounding bagpipe products available today.

Jerry's extensive experience in manufacturing and design engineering has allowed him to produce some of the most innovative, precision quality products that are available for the today's pipers and pipe bands.

For nearly 20 years he has played with the English piping trio The Goodacre Brothers, who have recorded two CDs. In 2000 Julian released his solo CD 'Pipemaker Calls Yer Tunes'. He is now gaining a growing reputation for his performances, talks and lectures. He currently lectures for the Piping Degree Course at The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Glasgow, Scotland.

Sean’s focus has always been on the production of quality instruments that are stable and have good tone. To this end plastic and composite reeds are used throughout.

Benedict Koehler is one of the most methodical and certainly one of the best uilleann chanter reed makers alive today. He participates in all aspects of the business and also makes practice sets of uilleann pipes.

A new entrant to the pipe making community from southern New England! After several years of study, experimentation and general messing about with materials and designs, Jonathan Warner finally decided to offer affordable bagpipe bellows for sale to the "cold blown" piping community. A maker, buyer and seller of all makes of bellows, he gladly accepts trade-ins and strays! In his workshop in the Connecticut River valley he has been building and repairing bellows of all sorts, including refurbishing older sets, and customizing and improving newer ones. He is always open to ideas and improvements on his designs. Extension of the product line and other pipe making endeavors may also lurk in the future.

With over 5,000 books in stock, Monroe Bridge Books specializes in used and rare - Scottish, Irish, Welsh English and Gaelic Books ( as well as an extensive general stock). Their inventory can be found on-line at the website link listed above. They also provide lists and catalogs that are subject specific - upon request.

Will gladly open by appointment, if you are in the area.

Monroe Bridge Books is a proud member of MARIAB, the Massachusetts & Rhode Island Antiquarian Booksellers Association.

Hamish uses mainly Ebony and African Blackwood for Small Pipes and Box Wood, Yew and Pear for Border Pipes and Reel Pipes. Reeds are all cane and that has become somewhat a hall mark of the firm.

It all started with going to the country dance class at the high school so that when I went to university I naturally signed up to play for the sword dancers and the folk dancing group. I was playing fiddle then and only came across the small pipes when the dancers went out to events which included Scottish and Irish dancers and music from Northumberland in the shape of two pipers called Forster Charlton and Colin Caisley.
I was immediately taken with the sound of the pipes and asked Forster if he could get a set for me which he did some years later after I had left university. At the time I was studying I had also met up with Bill Hedworth who was teaching metal work as part of my degree course in sculpture. He would get us all started and then pull out a little box full of chanter keys which he would work on while we were busy. I found out that they were part of the small pipes and was introduced to the idea of making the pipes from that moment.
By the time Forster did turn up with the pipes I was just about to get married and spent the first six months copying the set that he had found for me. This had come from the collector and pipemaker in Glasgow, Willie Hamilton. With no complaints from my wife, the folk singer Ray Fisher, I was on the slippery road to becoming a pipemaker myself.
I would make about a set a year in between teaching in the local secondary school and playing the pipes and fiddle in our group the High Level Ranters. We toured abroad and at home and the set I had made at the beginning advertised for me as I played it in the group so that I built up an order book that helped me to make the decision in the seventies to take redundancy from teaching and become a full time pipemaker.
I was preceded in that decision by David Burleigh by five years who I had met while teaching at the Polytechnic. He was across the road at the Hancock Museum working as a taxidermist and like me was finding it difficult to keep up with an increasing demand to make pipes for folk at home and abroad.
With the decision made I had a small workshop built at the back of the house, upgraded my machinery and set to work on the pipes in my order book which would keep me busy for at least two years. In fact the order book kept getting added to and I have never stopped since. There was pressure at first to make the pipes to earn money to sustain my family of three teenagers but things went well enough so that I came out of that period knowing I could make enough to make it a pleasure to do what I really wanted to do.
Bill Hedworth said to me at the time to remember the saying of Ralph Waldo Emerson:- ‘ If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbour, tho’ he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.’ He added to include ‘make a better set of pipes’ and you wouldn’t have a problem getting work.
I had decided to model my pipes on what I regarded as the classic style as created by Robert Reid in the same way that a violin maker would regard Stradivari as a model. I have stuck to this with only small deviations, which is more to do with modern techniques in key making and tuning and tonal considerations than being different just for the sake of being different. The internal business of the reeds and especially the drone reeds I looked to Tom Clough who had adapted metal organ reeds. I had been taught reed making by Forster Charlton who was fine with the chanter reeds but never got away with the cutting of the all cane drone reeds so I decided to try Clough’s method of tying a metal tongue on to a metal body. This took some time to get right but was still not ideal because of tonal considerations and as I found out because of the build up of verdigris on the metal which would prove an ongoing problem due to the fumes from the bag dressing. I decided to try fitting cane tongues and the problem was solved and is what I use now although I have tried plastic tongues which do work very well but still prefer using cane.
I have still been playing the pipes and fiddle alongside my work as a pipemaker as I reckon to be a good pipemaker you need to know what to aim for in your pipes mechanically and soundwise. I think that the qualities needed are combination of being a musician, artist and craftsman along with being something of a businessman and nice guy which I will leave you to decide.