Restoring a set of Uilleann pipes by Thomas Scott around 1810

 

The set can be heard on https://youtu.be/g8p-LNUREOU

 

Its history

 

 

Before it came to me, this set belonged to the late Hans-Jörg Podworny, a German professional piper and pipemaker. He started pipemaking in the eighties and is noted for having constructed his own multidrone set in the nineties with two drone groups with separate switches, giving Ddd‘ and ee‘.

 

I had seen the Scott set on one of my visits at his home, and I showed great interest as I was working on music of its period at the time. (ending up in my CD „Music of the Gentlemen Pipers“, together with Hubert Arnold, harpsichord and pianoforte) After his death I was allowed to put it into playable order, which I started to do in September 2021.

 

Before, the set was owned by Alan Ginsberg. He put it on auction in 2004 on ebay, from where Podworny procured it.

 

The name of the maker is printed on the main stock:

 

 

 

SCOTT

 

INVENTOR

 

HOLBORN

 

BARS

 

LONDON

 

 

 

 

The chanter, bass regulator and baritone drone also carry the name SCOTT.

 

The Scott in question, so I learned from Prof. Christoph Heyl, University Duisburg, is Thomas Scott, who worked between 1806 and 1810 in 17 Holborn Bars. He indeed worked on several innovations on woodwind instruments concerning  their key systems, as the double flageolet, flute, clarinet and oboe. He aimed to make wind instruments playable in a polyphonic style. So his note „inventor“ is not mere boasting, as he kept several patents, but there has no one turned up covering uilleann pipes construction.

 

There is a Latin inscription on the main stock, hidden below the bass separator, reading:

 

 

SCOTVS FECIT + RUSOVIVS REFECIT

 

 

MCMLXXIII

 

 

which means: Scott made the set and a „Rusovius“ repaired it in 1973.

 

Who is Rusovius ? Could it be Rowsome ? Then it might be Leon Rowsome, as Leo had died in 1970.

 

Kevin Rowsome, his son, cannot remember his father having used Latin language or digits, nor did he remember the set. The additional parts – bass regulator cap, bass drone ferrule and u-shaped terminal piece – do not look like Leon’s style, but rather Leo’s. By close examination it is possible that the roman figure reads MCMLXVIII, thus 1968 ? This would speak for Leo, and some replacements - mounts and ferrules - show a style of his. He was a highly esteemed restaurator of classic sets. Perhaps we’ll never know.

 

 

 

 

The state in which  I received it

 

The set is made of boxwood and brass, mounted with ivory, and the craftsmanship is excellent, as is the state of preservation of the original parts.

 

There are almost no traces of use or extensive playing, which is very unusual after 200 years. It seems as if it never has been played in a serious way, only as if one had a go now and then. There is a faint stain at the spot where the right thumb would touch the chanter. The keys shine as never having been touched.

 

There was a bag coming with the set which Podworny had started to make. He had tied in the cup and blowpipe stock before sewing. Maybe he had planned to ask someone to have the sewing done. The blowpipe stock carried a brass tube, sawn off in oblique form, to take up the valve.

 

There was no bellows.

 

When I first assembled the parts without much consideration, it looked like a withered bunch of flowers, with its short bass drone, which protruded in a wrong angle from the other pipes, and its terminal part entangling in the bass regulator extension.

 

 

 

The bass regulator moved loosely  about around the connection tube in the main stock.

 

 

 

 

The chanter had a simple modern brass top with a provisional  cork plug, of Podworny make. The chanter itself has 6 keys, from below: for d sharp, f natural, a sharp, c natural, d‘‘‘ and e‘‘‘ on top.

 

These keys, as are the regulator keys which close on wooden pipes, have flat circular pads which carry the old-faishoned leather pads glued with sealing wax. All of these were leaking, and so Podworny had closed the holes with tack film to be able to have a go playing. The pad spoons are shaped to precisely align with the rounded chanter surface, so the pads act like finger tips.

 

Different from the modern positions, the c natural key is set on the right side, to be played with the right index. The d‘‘‘ key is on the left, played by the left little finger.

 

The bell is embellished by an ivory mount only, down to the very bottom there is no ferrule. I added a bottom valve, held by a wrapping, made by myself in bone and brass.

 

The finger holes seem to be in the original size and shape, except for the e holes, and, most severe, the back d hole, which is as big as to correspond with the bore width, as if someone would have tried to tune a reed with broken d by opening. The e hole appeared as if widened a bit in the outer half of the chimney. Restoring its former shape brings both e notes to perfect pitch.

 

 

 

My aims of refurbishment

 

were, to get the set in playable order, for myself using it in concerts for rendering the music of ist period, with the contemporary playing techniques, which I am ready to learn. The set reveals the sight and preferences in tone, regulator sounds, tuning, balancing – as long as no changes have taken place in former refurbishment works. But these again left traces adhering to their special period as well, and if successful from the general musical point of view, I accept them as one way to do a good job in their own right.  I myself wanted to have as little substantial changes as possible, and as much  changes or replacements to be non-invasive and reversible as possible.

 

Getting all staunch: Wrappings, Bag and Bellows

 

All the pipe tenons are covered by thin cork sheets, familiar from recorders and flutes, but they all have additional wrappings. These had to be adjusted by adding more thread. I used the traditional hemp, no longer yellow, but white in colour. The uppermost layer I made of waxed dental floss. Over the reeding and tuning procedure the wrappings settled and had to be readjusted several times. By assymetrical cross-wrapping, I corrected some non-parallel pipe settings.

 

I have been given a fine bag from a friend and fellow piper, Joachim Hoffmann, living close by. As I had made myself a bellows for another set, which fits exactly by style and design: Teakwood clappers, sewn to black leather, with brass fittings, I added it to the set, and it fits well. The blowpipe (if it is meant to serve as such at all) that went with the set appeared too ugly, so I took one of Joe McKenna make which served on a practice set I have for loanig to students.

 

I achieved complete tightness of the bag with a mixture of 1/3 of glycerine and 2/3 of violin-maker’s glue, with 3 % of sorbine acid added, as learnt from Andreas Rogge.

 

The main stock cup was a replacement, very roughly turned, made in brass and a light hardwood. It looks different from the one in Ginsberg‘s auction pictures. It is most likely that it is Podworny’s work from a time after he fell severely ill, which affected his movement abilities.

 

The first attempts to find a way of reaching the regulator keys showed that the body was too long for me to get to the lower keys. As the main stock cup was longer than necessary, I ordered a new one from Hendrik Morgenbrodt, and he made it within a week of time precisely after my measurements and drawings, thus saving some 4 cm of length. I tied it into the bag with a strong black multi-strand nylon thread. Still very long, after assembling,  the body was now comparable in its size to my Robby Hughes c set, which I am well used to, so I expected ways to get it played easier.

 

 

 

 

The main stock is a solid stock with the usual channels to take up the pipes. Former channels have been closed, to open the actual ones in consequence. Different from the modern setup, the channel for the tenor drone is set below the one for the bass drone. Thus the tenor lies off the player, and it  is awkwardly difficult to handle for tuning it.

 

There are two cracks all along the stock’s length, well repaired. The switch is a typical traditional L-shaped one, with an ivory handle. All seems to be original.

 

In a first test to play the set in ¾ form, some leaking appeared, and by thorough research I found that the channels for the regulators and bass drone were not precisely round, due to the cracks. I had to regain the basic shape by adding some putty to the walls where the wrapping of the pipes come to be.

 

Reeding and tuning the chanter

 

I exchanged the top against another fine Podworny top with bone mount and a stop key, this made by myself. I removed the sticky tacks and  the old key pads and put new ones on, consisting of a dense foam gum, 2 mm thick, which accept the shape between key and chanter wall in an ideal way. In this way all the pads of the regulators were exchanged as well. This stuff is very tolerant against the minor side  movements of the keys in its shoulders. They may easily be exchanged against more orthodox solutions.

 

Obviously the bore has been widened and is no longer in its original state, so the mouth width is 12,5 mm, which is quite wide for a chanter of this size. It eventually came to be tuned in very slightly sharp of B - +20 cents - in 20 degrees Celsius.

 

The first playing attempts showed a too sharp back d and a terribly flat, weak c sharp. After giving the back d hole a credible size, the reed could be pushed deeper and the c sharp improved, but remained flat and weak. I keep a rather big stock of reeds, well made by another friend, Hans Reusch, who served me with them for students and my other sets in my collection. I tried all of these in the chanter,  and all candidates agreed with my tuning judgement of „slightly too-sharp-B“. One appeared the best fitting, and I went through the usual work of shifting, opening and closing, shortening and tuning, until, in the end,  I reached a state of perfect tune, at the same time being as close as possible to my personal habits of playing.

 

The solution of the weak c sharp  problem I found in the old contemporary fingering scales: The one in Colclough’s tutor showed considerable differences to modern fingering, and in the case of the c sharp demands in ist most practical version to play it with the upper three front holes open. Played this way, the c sharp is 10 cent below the tempered tuning, sounding very well to the drones and the a regulator notes. Played with modern fingering, it is a bit sharp, and does not endure much pressure. Still, I resisted the temptation of opening it, fearing to spoil the selection of c and c sharp. I prefer trying to include the Colclough fingering into my technique. Hard practicing and a chance for mental training.

 

I found out in various tutors how the fingerings for c natural and c sharp changed through the centuries and decades:

 

C sharp:

 

O’Farrell: Only left thumb, left ring finger and right little finger closed, on the knee.

 

„Tipping“: Modern fingering. There is no sharp printed in the diagram.

 

Colclough: All fingers open, except left index and thumb, c sharp key open, chanter on the knee.            „Tipping“: Modern fingering.

 

„Exception“ for „quick passages“: Only the three upper fingers open, chanter on the knee.

 

Crowley gives no fingering for c sharp, only the „traditional scale“, d mixolydian, with c natural.

 

Rowsome: „Staccato“, modern fingering, „Legato“, left index and middle finger open, on the knee,or dito, off the knee.

  C natural

 

O’Farrell: „Scale of the natural notes“, but with c sharp and f sharp accidentals printed.Three left fingers open, upper thumb closed, off the knee.               

 

Colclough: All fingers open, except left index and thumb, c natural key open, chanter on the knee.            „Tipping“: Modern fingering, on the knee.

 

„Exception“ for „quick passages“: Only left index open, chanter off the knee.

 

Crowley:

 

„Traditional scale“, d mixolydian, with c natural. Index of left hand alone open, right hand off the chanter altogether, off the knee.

„Chromatic“: Left thumb and middle finger closed, right little finger closed for holding,chanter on the knee

 

Rowsome: „Staccato“, modern fingering, „Legato“, modern c sharp fingering, off the knee.

 

„Chromatic with…keys“: left thumb closed, c natural key open, off the knee.

 

Ennis, Vallely, P. Sky and Brooks give the modern fingerings throughout..

 

 A set by  Maurice „Moss“ Kennedy, who continued Crowley’s business,  acquired by a student of mine, is hardly to tune on both notes, as can be heard on recordings of pipers using pipes of that make.

 

To sum up these confusing variants of c and c sharp fingerings, it turns out that the Scott chanter shows very good tuning and the best sound following the fingerings of Colclough as described above, he being a contemporary maker.

 

This fingering is quite far from my usual modern one-finger-c sharp, so I  first practiced a compromise: To do the modern one-finger way plus opening what I assumed to be the c sharp key. Over the months following, the c sharp key note rose in pitch, and eventually it appeared too sharp. As the d‘‘‘ was hard to get at by fingering, I tried to play it with that key, which I succeeded, getting it easy and pure. So I consider this key as being the d‘‘‘ key proper. In dry climate, the d'''fails if played the modern way,. In humidity above 50 % it plays, being tuned on the sharp side.

 

In spite of the changes in the bore conception, the chanter appears to be of high quality in its nowadays setting. It gets the octave with surprisingly little effort. The whole compass up to e‘‘‘ is at hand. Both the bottom d forms are playable in a comfortable pressure level, without warbling. Back d is secure and does not break within the pressure level of all the other notes. All the chanter has received as tuning additional aids is a 2,5 mm pointed brass wire from bell to c sharp hole, the reshaping of the upper half of the  e chimney,  ensmalling indiarubber pieces in the d, b and a holes and a piece of cardboard in the bell. Not much different from what you meet with on modern chanters.

 

The Drones

 

 

The tenor and the baritone drone are original in all parts. They carry cork layers as well.  There are wrappings added anyway, as the slides would be slack without. They tune easily in their wooden slides and appeared to be reeded according to the chanter tuning without problems.

 

The rich decoration of all the drone’s  mounts are in excellent condition, only one small ring is lost.

 

The bass drone

 

 

As mentioned, the bass drone appeared to be comparably  short. Still it was easily reeded to be in tune to the chanter pitch. The blowpipe replacement, a 6 cm brass tube, sawn off in oblique form, I took as an extension piece first, as it helped to correct the ugly angle in which ther drone protruded. The u-pieces of the trumpet are connected to its pipes with wrappings, so the whole connection feels unstable unless staunchly wrapped. And they turned out to be in the wrong order, so, exchanged, they corrected the angle, and the "blowpipe" became obsolete.The slide part seems to be a replacement, its ferrule shows a different embellishment pattern (Rowsome style?), and the terminal u-piece was a roughly shortened part of any brass instrument tube. The end mount, however, corresponds in design with the ones of the smaller drones. Maybe there had been a straight slide part, now lost, which was exchanged in favour of the then faishonable u-shaped part. So I constructed a straight tube as replacement which take up the parts connected to the u-tube, following the design of the terminal parts of the other drones. The overall design now looks more beautiful to me. As I had no boxwood at hand, I at first chose cheap wood from a curtain bar.

 

 

 

 

Eventually, I ordered a final boxwood version to be made by Hendrik Morgenbrodt.

 

 

 

With the trumpet part assembled the right way around, the whole drone group looks very organic and well-embedded in the whole body.

 

 

 

 

The Regulators

 

 

The small regulators are all in their original state and shape, with some cracks in their ivory mounts, well repaired with thread through tiny holes. They were easily tuned with modern reeds, which had been designed for soft sounding concert pitch pipes.