History and lore:

FAMOUS BAGPIPE MAKERS (Chapter XVI from Captain Francis O'Neill's “Irish Minstrels and Musicians”, Chicago, Regan Printing House, 1913).

Pipemaking:  [more information coming soon]

I present below PDF versions of the slides which I used for my portion of the pipemaking talks delivered during the 2008 Willie Clancy Summer School. The other instructor was Cillian O'Briain, who contributed numerous comments and delivered content of his own. Ronan Browne assisted with the delivery and preparation of the PDF on visual elements in pipemaking. I am also indebted to David Quinn who provided valuable feedback and without whose previous publications and inspiration I would be at a loss.

Making And Using Reamers, part I
Visual and Decorative Elements in Pipemaking: Design and Proportion
Practical Acoustics for Pipers and Pipemakers (I)
Setting up a Workshop: Bill's List

(Please feel free to view and print these, but please do not republish or redistribute them without my permission - thanks!)

I am honored and delighted to announce that this year David M Quinn will be delivering the pipemaking lecture and instruction series with me at WCSS. While some topics certainly merit a repeat discussion, this years' series will feature all new content and will focus on the practical issues brought to light during examination of several 'classic' sets of pipes. Thanks David!


Some photo essays were formerly stored on Imagestation.com... Unfortunately ImageStation is no more, so these photo-essays are no longer available. I hope to restore some of the essays in the near future - watch the "NEWS" section of this site.

Reamer making (and measurement gauges)[host site closed]

A Few Other Tools[host site closed]

Restoration Project [host site closed]

Making a Hollow Stock [photo album: host site closed]

A Taylor-inspired Bass Drone [photo album: host site closed]

Making A Taylor Inspired Bass Drone (PDF) (as published in Iris na bPiobairi, the publication of the Seattle-based Cumann na bPiobairi/Irish Pipers' Club

Making A Hollow Mainstock (PDF) (as published in Iris na bPiobairi, the publication of the Seattle-based Cumann na bPiobairi/Irish Pipers' Club