All of our wood is Air dried only, kiln drying can burn off some of the natural oils which are so important in musical instrument use.

The wood is selected by color and figure and divided into sets to air dry. It will be rough turned and pre-bored and allowed to dry further. Although 6 months or so may pass before you receive your pipes, work was started on the wood used in them as much as two years prior!

MacLellan bagpipes was first company in the modern era to look at woods other than African Blackwood, especially Cocobolo and recently Mopane. Before the Great War in 1914, it was not unusual to find some of the best sounding bagpipes made from woods other than Blackwood or Ebony. Cocus wood from Jamaica & Brazilian kingwood were used regularly. After that war, the woods from German East Africa, now Tanzania, became widely available.

Both Blackwood & Cocobolo come from the Dalbergia family ( Leguminosae) of Exotic hardwoods. Both have a high oil content and are dimensionally extremely stable. Blackwood has a specific gravity of about 1.08, Cocobolo 0.85 to 0.95. Mopane 0.90

The Cocobolo sound is rich & mellow. The wood is slightly less dense that African Blackwood, which allows the drone to absorb some of the higher sound frequencies. This damps or removes some of the harshness & "buzziness" which some synthetic reeds can produce. The result is warm and full, MacLellan Cocobolo Drones produce that room filling envelope of harmonics that can embrace the player & his audience. The Mopane drones are bright and similar in character to the Blackwood sound, they are a light brown color.

We have two drone bore styles, which can be used in any of our drone profiles.

The MacLellan bore was originally based on a set of 1880's Henderson bagpipes belonging to my Grandfather from North Uist. Some changes have been made to the tenor tops and bass drone, and now gives us the big, rich and complex sound most people have come to know as " the MacLellan Drone Sound."

The Antique bore is based on the set that influenced the design of our Antique Edition pictured above. It is narrower than our MacLellan Bore and has unique bell shape.  The pitch is slightly flatter, around 466 with a strong and clear fundamental tone, somewhat reminiscent of a MacDougall or Glen type of sound.

We never have bagpipes "made up" or on the shelf. All of our sets are custom built to the owner's specification. For this reason expect a delivery time frame from 4 to 6 months.

We take on a lot of custom metal work and design. If you don't see exactly what you want, call and we'll design and build the set you dream of.

A 50% deposit is required to confirm  an order. Full refunds are given on orders cancelled before work is started on a set. Cost of any special materials or metal work, will not be refunded if they have already been brought in, or work started. Payment  can be made by check, money order, Visa, MasterCard or Pay Pal.