Copyright © 2000, all rights reserved
Thanks you guys!
On this page, I'd like to take the opportunity to express my sincere thanks to those individuals who took their time to mentor, criticize, tutor, cajole, correspond, and challenge me with the details of this project. Mere thanks doesn't come close to expressing the importance the guidance provided by this group. this list isn't complete, these are the critical players. Without any one of them, this project would not have happened.
|
Pipers-L |
Pipers-L is an e-mail discussion list made up of some of the nicest, funniest, and passionate people I have ever come across. The group is very active and sometimes tops 200 posts in a day. It is presided over by Kenton Adler of Lyon College,in Batesville, Arkansas. Topics of discussion are not limited to piping. Members meet face to face at piping meets across the country.
|
|
Jerry Gibson |
I met Jerry face to face at the 54th Seattle Highland Games in Enumclaw, Washington. He was working in the tent of one of his distributors. He spent quite a bit of his time with me, inspecting my work and offering advice. I think he was favorably impressed with the work I had done so far. Coming from a professional pipemaker like Jerry, I took this as high praise indeed. Jerry even offered some important advice if I ever decide to make pipes professionally. I assured him I had no intentions of ever going that route. Jerry is an excellent man and a wealth of information. I wish I lived closer to Cleveland so I could pick his valuable brain again!
|
|
David Atherton
|
I ran into Dave while participating on the rec.music.makers.bagpipe newsgroup. I quickly discovered he was a professional pipemaker and have pumped him shamelessly for insider information ever since. We have corresponded via the newsgroup, direct e-mail, and several telephone conversations. Dave has solved several problems for me and confirmed some of my decisions. His help has been invaluable.
|
|
Tyrone Heade |
Tyrone is my piping instructor. and planted the seed that I should consider this project. His firm but easy-going style of teaching is light-years ahead of his more traditional predecessors. Tyrone was himself inspired to full-time piping by taking possession of his grandfather's WWI era Lawrie pipes.
|
|
Dr.
Jack Hutcheson Jr. |
I ran into Jack while participating in the Pipers-L discussion group. As an oncologist, Jack has access to x-ray machines and has a beautiful set of 1920's era Henderson bagpipes. He shot full-chest x-rays of his pipes and sent them to me with measurements. These are the basis of the design I used for my pipes. These x-rays have saved me from myself more times than I can count.
|
|
Casey Burns |
In an Internet search for information on making bagpipes, I found an article written by Casey. He not only lives close to Seattle, he foolishly included his contact information in his article. I contacted him and we discussed pipemaking at length. He had some excellent ideas and suggestions for me, many of which I have used. He also invited me to visit his shop one of these days. I plan on taking him up on his offer.
|
|
Mort McClennan |
While investigating gundrills, I came across HyperTool. Fortunately, Mort has a tender spot for pipers and was willing to do a tiny, bothersome little order for a hobby pipemaker. He put up with a multitude of questions, allowed custom modifications so I could use their gundrills on my ancient lathe, and was an all-around pleasure to work with.
|
|
Fran Morrin |
I needed some special tooling I couldn't find here in the USA. Fran answered a newsgroup request and said they were readily available to him. Fortunately for me, Fran has a US made shop vac, and was unable to get filters for it in Ireland. We made a parts swap that turned out to be productive and timely for both of us. |