Bryan got a new set of pipes in the other day. Colin Kyo bagpipes with engraved silver slides and ferrules and moose antler projecting mounts, ringcaps, and bushes. They are beautiful pipes. Bryan acquired an older, fully mounted set of CK moose bagpipes a couple of years ago that you’ve heard on the blog before (because I bought them from Bryan) and he liked them so much he bought an engraved silver set. Murray Huggins of CK bagpipes is doing some fantastic work these days. Murray is an amazing guy who not only plays the bagpipes really well, but he has designed an excellent chanter and has really honed is pipe making skills including doing his own engraving. His projecting mounts are smaller these days, more elegant, along with short ferrules for an overall very sophisticated looking bagpipe. Check out the pipes!
Currently, I’ve got Bryan’s 15 year old Ezee drone reeds in there with these recordings. I’ll break out my reed collection in due course before I hand them back to him, hehe.
King of Laois, Swallow’s Tail, Gravel Walk – mic drone side
Donald MacLean’s Farewell to Oban, Captain Colin Campbell, Rejected Suitor – mic chanter side
+++++Edit 2016-06-29+++++
Drone reed library has been explored. What follows is my experience with Colin Kyo pipes. Ezeedrone, as above, gives a strong smooth bass with ringing tenors over the top. I recall CK being Hendersonish in nature so ask any gold medalist playing Hendersons why they use Ezeedrone, now you know. The Ezeedrones above were quite old, new Ezeedrones give a brighter ring. I tried Selbies next but being such a bold reed, the tenors were a pain to tune. If both tenors were on, it was impossible to tune them together with a seamless sound. I had the same problem with Selbies in my old Hendersons, these pipes don’t need the tenor volume help that Selbies provide and it becomes too much in the overtone department and become difficult to tune. Selbie bass is solid, but maybe half way between Ezeedrone and Crozier Glass with a tad bit of buzz. Crozier Glass give a big well balanced sound, but it is very buzzy from both tenor and bass. If you want big, buzzy, but also well balanced, Crozier Glass are for you. Canning gave me similar trouble as the Selbie, but were not nearly as troublesome. Canning are Ezeedrone’s brighter cousin in the tenor department. Finally, if you want a little more tenor than what Ezeedrone provide, head over to Redwood. They give great volume but are easier to tune than Selbie. What we have below is my favorite bass, Ezeedrone, which just comes off so smooth, solid, and easy to tune, with Redwood tenor drone reeds. Enjoy!
74ths Slow March, Sweet Maid of Mull, Farewell to the Creeks – mic drone side
It has dawned on me that I don’t have recordings of my Colin Kyo bagpipes with just straight up Ezeedrone reeds in them, gah, you need to hear them with that brighter ring off non-worn out tenors. Check back soon!