Cornemuses

Et voilà, trois cornemuses du centre de la France...
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16 pouces (key of G), plumwood with imitation ivory mounts
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14 p (key of A), plum with blackwood mounts
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16 p, sonokeling rosewood with imitation ivory, drones tuneable to A to be played with additional 14 p chanter in A (not shown)
That's all for the moment - I'm going back to the workshop...

Wow ! Beautiful sets of french pipes ! I especialy like the plum and blackwood mounts 14 pouces...

I play 16, 20 (Bernard Blanc) and 23 pouces (D. Fouchères) french pipes and still have a 14 pouces chanter in A. I'll shurely try to make a set of drones and a bag for this chanter (made by JS Maître).

Thanks, Nicolas!
I'm presently working on a 23 p chanter but I'm not yet happy with the result - I want to get the hole spacing comfortable for my rather smallish hands.
Next thing I'm going to try will be a 26 p in low A...
Unfortunately, I am unable to make the beautiful pewter "incrustations" or the "Sautivet" decorations - I'd very much like to learn how to do these.

Did you know this clip ?: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

That's the clip I saw a couple of years ago, and learnt how to do it by. Just keep one thing in mind, don't skimp on the depth of the grooves and carving. You need some volume, otherwise the pewter/lead cools down too quick, before it had a chance to get everywhere. I found that out after a few frustrating attempts. Also it helps to tap the tube of wood onto a tabletop (or whatever) while the molten metal is still molten. It helps to get rid of trapped air bubbles. But don't be too close to it while doing it, as droplets of molten metal tend to try to hit you in the eye.
However, this still doesn't explain how they did those incredibly intricate inlays in some French pipes, that have considerably more detailed and refined type of pattern to the decoration. I suspect some considerable work could have been done with a soldering iron after the main body was poured in. I tried, and yes, it is possible to correct small mistakes with a soldering iron and a bit of lead, but it's not something I would like to do on a permanent basis. While you melt a small area, to get rid of a small trapped air bubble hole, what happens is that the surrounding area also gets melted, and runs out of the groove. You need to be very careful.

To see how it's made on french pipes, follow this link : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

You click on : GALERIE PHOTOS then on MES INSTRUMENTS and then on INCRUSTÉES, you will see plenty of "pewter inlay work in progress" by master Barnard Blanc

Yuri wrote:
However, this still doesn't explain how they did those incredibly intricate inlays in some French pipes, that have considerably more detailed and refined type of pattern to the decoration.

I've got a tiny bit of pewter casting experience. I can't say how anything is done, but I can guess one way it could be done. You could use the techniques used in [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] to force the material into more intricate details. Naturally, proper gate & vent design is critical.

Well, having had a look at the photos, I am happy to find that I'm not the only one with problems in this area. There are a couple of pictures there with the inlay not quite making it to some more remote bits and pieces. I imagine others have to invest in a soldering iron, too.
Verdatum, I'm not quite sure how spin-casting would be useable here. I mean, it would spin the metal away from the center, not towards. Unless, of course the stock is fixed on the periphery of the revolving disc, but I don't really think any maker went to that trouble. I have myself cast a couple of inlays, using the same technique as in that Hungarian video, and it works well, at least for a fairly simple design, on the lines of the one in the vid. And it is very low-tech, so a kitchen stove is all you need there.

Yes, I meant with the wood mounted on the edge, and properly counterbalanced. I have no reason to believe anyone has done this for wood-pewter inlays, I was just saying, you could get some pretty intricate details if you set up a centrifugal casting rig. I've heard the technique is used on occasion in casting hardware like instrument keys, so I figured some people might have the equipment lying around.

Hi

man could you send me the plans of this kind of bagpipes

thank you