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Customer's Comments.
Dear Roddy, I received my
new Full Silver Pipes for my 30th Birthday and I have to say
that you and my wife are very sneaky, I never new a thing about it. I have
them set up now and I’m blown away by your workmanship. The Silver Work is
immaculate. I played the set you made for me whilst I was Pipe Major of
WAPOL and was impressed by the quality then, but my new set takes the
cake…
The tonal quality is hypnotic and the ease of
setting up the drones and balancing them together is a credit to your
accuracy and care in the process. I am at the moment playing Crozier Cane
reeds with the Ross Bag Set up, but for this year at the Worlds I will be
changing to Hide and Cane… I will be interested to hear the difference of
this set up.
I will send you a sound file of both set-ups for you
to assess for yourself.
Again thanks for the surprise; it
certainly numbed the pain of turning 30…
Yours truly,
James Cowie
Australia Highlanders Pipe Band
Ex - Pipe Major WAPOL
Hi Roddy, missed you at the Metro cup this year. Just wanted to say that
one of my students is playing a set of your pipes, Mike Flynn from here in
Halifax and they sound superb, notably, the bass drone. So, good job on
that one.
Seems like the business is going well, good luck with it and keep up the
good work
Cheers
Bruce
Bruce Gandy Hi Roddy,
I have found your pipes and chanters to be an outstanding asset to my
band, Lyon College. The pipes have the deep rich harmonics of the older
sets, easy to tune and rock steady. The chanters have been no problem
since the day we purchased them, producing a bright clear sound from top
to bottom. I would not hesitate in recommending any of your instruments to
anyone. I play them myself.
Jimmy Bell, Director
Scottish Heritage Program
Lyon College
Batesville, Arkansas
Hi Roddy, the pipes are magical. The drones produce a full, surround
sound that
is like floating in the clear blue water of the Bahamas. I just got a box
of
Warnock's wide chanter reeds, and they really suit the chanter nicely.
It
scales perfectly without any tape, with a full top hand and strong
bottom
hand. It fits the hands perfectly. This last summer I struggled with an
old Naill Chanter, and still received good comments on the quality of my
sound. Jack Lee judged my piobaireachd in Enumclaw, outside Seattle, and
wrote "beautiful pipes set up beautifully." Playing cane drone reeds of
my
own manufacture, with an inverted bass, I have never had a set of drones
warm up and lock on as quickly as these. And I am used to playing
pre-WWILawries. After fifteen minutes of warming up I know I can play a whole
piobaireachd, or two, without having to worry about the drones going
off.
I have had to worry about the Naill chanter changing even after 30
minutes
of playing (changing the whole time), so this new combination of wide
Warnock and your chanter will make my efforts worry-free. Every games I
played at this last summer people came up to ask if they could take a
close
look at the silver on my millennium edition. They all are amazed at the
detailed beauty of the silver. The most common comment I get is,"I've
never seen silver like that, not even on the old pipes." A hundred years
from now pipers will search for MacLellan pipes the way old MacDougalls,
Lawries and Hendersons are sought after today. As far as I am
concerned
you are our generation's Antonio Stradivarius of the Highland pipe.
Sincere thanks,
John Dally
Seattle
"Roddy:
Got the pipe today and clearly this
instrument was worth the wait. This really is the most beautiful-looking
pipe I've ever seen, and some of the finest workmanship I've seen from
your shop. I'm really pleased and flattered that you would've gone to such
obvious trouble with this instrument. It really does take my breath away
to look at. But the sound is even better than the appearance. I quickly
set your pipe up, popped in the drone reeds from my 1910 Hendersons and
the sound from your drones was awesome -- rich, warm, clear as a bell, and
after maybe 5 minutes of playing and tuning the drones locked in for
almost 20 solid minutes of playing. I had to force myself to put them
down, realizing that they are a new pipe and require a gentle break-in
period!
I will be very proud to play this pipe,
and already believe that I will have to lay aside my Hendersons.
Thank you for your great work.
Thom Moore
Grade 1 Solo Piper, Eastern US Pipe Band
Association
Piper, Oran Mor Pipe Band"
Dear Roddy,
Wednesday evening John delivered my new MacLellan pipes. I've
never seen a more beautiful set of Highland pipes!!! They far exceeded
my high expectations. The contrasting colors of the cocobolo with your
silver work is simply stunning. I greatly enjoy the details such as
wooden drone cap bushes and the ferrules which wrap around the bottoms
of the drone sections. Pictures of these details on your website would
be advantageous to prospective buyers.
I've already taken the pipes for some "test drives" and they sound
great too.
I look forward to many years of pleasurable piping with my new pipes.
John Cunningham
Seattle, WA Roddy,
I've given the pipes a good play-in, and I have to say, your pipes
are a good
several notches above the rest.
The drones are the first thing I want to mention. While the vast
majority
of new pipes give off tolerable tones, yours have what I'd call "an
atmosphere"; when they're all tuned up (which is a whole heck of a lot
easier to do than on many pipes) the tone fills the room with a warmth,
if
you will, as opposed to the usual rattling buzz you get off most modern
pipes.
Tuning them is also a joy in itself. My last set of pipes, and a set of
McCallum's I'd borrowed from someone for short while, never sounded
quite
right to me, like there were always other little undertones (for lack of
a
better word), and rattles that made tuning a little annoying. I
honestly
enjoy tuning yours because they're so easy to get into tune. When you
get
them in tune, that's all there is to it; no little mysterious buzzes or
other reason to contort your face in a vain effort to figure out what's
going on.
The bass drone is wonderful! Instead of that cheap, clicky rattle you
get
off a lot of pipes, your bass drone has an amazing, deep, purely toneful
sound to it, and mixed with the two tenors. Excellent!
I love the chanter! Being able to play such a low pitch (A) really is
an
experience unto itself, and it really sounds a nice rich tone off. The
tone
and tuning really plays well with an electric guitar, blending quite
well
with the guitar.
All in all, I think some other makers should apply for some lessons from
you. Great job on the pipes!
-Brad V. Roddy,
They arrived about 3-4 days ago. THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. Members
of both my band and workplace were as much in awe as I was when they had
seen them. The imitation horn fuses well with the dark blackwood and the
bronze and silver ferrules with the silver tuning pins. You had done an
extraordinary job with the celtic cross engraving. I am incredibly
pleased with the way they had turned out and look forward to playing
them. I am sure these will be in, and passed on, in my family for some
time to come. I really do look forward to doing future business with
you.
Again Roddy, I couldn't be happier with what you have created. Thank you
and please stay in touch.
Fraternally, Joe Schili I just had to write you.
Just got back from an informal session, with my band mates. Took my
bodhron, small pipes, and of course, my new pipes.
Properly oiled and fitted to a new bag yesterday, I did some fine
tuning on the easy strength Kinnaird drone reeds I am using in them,
and some scraping on an easy drone chanter reed. At first, I didn't
care for the light pressure needed to produce such a fine sound, but I
got used to it, along with the higher pitch than I'm used to.
I have found the chanter to be bright, and clear, well balanced (tape
on the E and D), and the drones, unbelievable. I have always scored
well on my tuning and sound of the pipes, but I have never heard pipes
that literally "Lock in" like these.
They are well worth the wait.
Thank you
Sheldon Hamblin
Roddy,
I received my
pipes last Wednesday and they are everything I had hoped for. They are
absolutely beautiful – eye candy for sure. The sound is something you
have to experience to believe – big, bold yet sweet drones and the ABW
solo chanter compliments wonderfully. I don’t know if God sings, but
if he does, I’m pretty sure he would sound like these pipes.
I took them over
to my tutor at my last lesson and had him try them. He struck them in
and tuned the drones and his eyes got real big. His impression was
that the sound was totally enveloping. Strong with no hint of
harshness or buzz from the synthetic drone reeds I had in there (Wygent
Synthe-Drone). Best that he ever heard. This is from a guy with over
30 year’s experience and plays old Henderson’s.
Regards,
Tom Weir
tomweir@ameritech.net
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