Lawrie Bagpipes?

[Bill Carr]

What year did R.G Lawrie go out of the bagpipe making business?

Thanks

Bill Carr

[WDH]

Bill,
I'm pretty sure 1976 was the final year in Scotland
but someone who lives in the US (Ohio) I think owns
the name R.G. Lawrie.
"Bill Carr" <the....@go.enitel.no> wrote in message
news:3AA54614...@go.enitel.no...

[WDH]

Bill,
I'm pretty sure 1976 was the final year in Scotland
but someone who lives in the US (Ohio) I think owns
the name R.G. Lawrie.

--
To purchase kilt hose or kilthose knitting book
www.kilthose.com

"Bill Carr" <the....@go.enitel.no> wrote in message
news:3AA54614...@go.enitel.no...

[matheson]

I have an R.G. Lawrie practice chanter that was purchased in early 1978.
Might have been in stock for a long time, but it was purchased from a large
store (Scottish Shopper, Seattle) , so I would think it must have been made
in 1977.

Les

"Bill Carr" <the....@go.enitel.no> wrote in message
news:3AA54614...@go.enitel.no...

[mw...@psu.edu]

In article <983j7f$4tju$1...@newssvr06-en0.news.prodigy.com>
"WDH" <bagp...@prodigy.net> writes:

> Bill,
> I'm pretty sure 1976 was the final year in Scotland

My first set of pipes were Glasgow Lawries. Purchased in early summer
1978. The company certainly seemed to be still in business at that
time. However, I do not think they lasted much longer. The combing is
cheesy. The bores of those drones are so poorly bored that the joints
go from loose to tight and back again as one tries to tune. The bass
drone tunes low on the lower pin, and the chanter is pitched so far
above B natural that even today it is almost impossible to find a reed
that balances. I replaced the chanter within a year. The drones have a
decent sound if one can put up with the tuning difficultiesÑbetter than
the old Hardies set I used for awhile in the Eighties.
WES

[Bill Carr]

Thanks to everyone who replied personally.

If I may ask.....what era Lawries are considered to be the best drones? Mid
50's or before?

When did they start making bad quality stuff?

Thanks again

Bill Carr

[Bagpiper]

and does anyone know when they last put ivory mounts on their pipes?

[Chris Hamilton]

On Wed, 07 Mar 2001 15:53:53 GMT, Bill Carr <the....@go.enitel.no>
wrote:

>Thanks to everyone who replied personally.
>
>If I may ask.....what era Lawries are considered to be the best drones? Mid
>50's or before?

I've been told that pre-1945 Lawries are super and after World War 2
the quality began to decline.

Chris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christopher Hamilton -- ToneCzar Inc.
ch...@toneczar.com -- www.toneczar.com

[Tim Sullivan]

I'm not going to argue with Chris on this. I do think, however, that as
with any of the older names (and perhaps some new ones at that) you have to
look at the volume of product that they were dealing with. If the volume
for a given timeframe was low more attention was paid to the product as it
was produced. If the volume was high then two factors come into play.
First - the product made in house was pushed through quicker and with less
attention to detail than the same product would have seen during low volume
times. Second - and perhaps worst of all - many of the makers farmed out
significant portions of the manufacturing process.
Obviously the product made by the sub-supplier was not turned on the
same machines as the 'in-house' stuff. It is highly unlikely that the
attention to detail paid was as good. In the aggregate this yielded parts
(or entire sets) of pipes that might have had a venerated maker's name on
them, without any of that maker's processing, techniques, or passion
included in the sales price.
This, to me at least, explains some of the wide differences seen in some
of the drones sold as Hendersons - as an example.

"Chris Hamilton" <ch...@toneczar.com> wrote in message
news:onqcat84l8th3r4v0...@4ax.com...

[u38cg]

That tags with what I understand. I think quality is erratic at the earlier
end, so 20s/30s are the golden age (as per Henderson, really)

[u38cg]

And if I might continue that one, does anyone know when makers stopped
(or started to stop) using ivory in general?

[Shawn Husk]

Bill, I've heard (just what I've been told) that pre WWI Lawries are the best,
then from 1919 to WWII are second best, then from the late 40's to the 60's
were the final good years, after the 60's things really declined.

PERSONALLY, I've played only three set's of Lawries, my 1960's era pipes were
very nice indeed from a tone perspective, however they were slightly difficult
to really keep steady. Now I owned these pipes about 2 years ago so it's really
difficult to say if it was reed set up, me, or the pipes as far as the
steadiness goes. However it is true that some pipes are inherently much more
steady (easier to keep steady) than others. Now about a year before I got rid
of these Lawries, 3 or 4 years ago now, I went down to Jimmy McIntosh's to look
at some pipes with a friend of mine. He showed us a set of S&I Lawries from
1902. They had just been redone and get this had the old blaring Shepherd reeds
in them. You would have never guess. These were the finest set of pipes I'd
ever heard at the time. Granted I didn't have nearly the ability that I do now
to distinguish good tone, so take that for what it's worth. I did however
happen to bring along MY 60's Lawries that day and I remember that the tone
comparison between the two was astronomically in favor of the earlier ones.

All in all though every set of Lawries I've ever heard have a very nice sound.
Some better than others but all of them are very good. I'm sure they're are a
few sets out there that are really terrible but I've never seen or heard one.

Shawn

[Kris Bawden]

I've heard that pre-1930 Lawries were the best and that from then on they
steadily decreased in quality

"Bill Carr" <the....@go.enitel.no> wrote in message

news:3AA65900...@go.enitel.no...

[MacLeod & MacLeod]

I've kinda sat back an watched this thread to see what would develop...

I own a set of Silver and Ivory, thistle engraved Lawrie's that I was told were bought brand new and were not retro-fitted with silver. The hallmarking is by D&N and dated 1985. The tone is smooth with broad blended harmonics and a strong bass. In short - awsome. (I wouldn't have spent for these without the tone...) The bass drone does tune "low", but usable up to at lease 476 or so without shortening the top. The chanter is rich, full and dead on B-flat.

I also own a second set which is I believe (based on provenance) was bought new in 1950's. It is Celluloid mounted, and bone-horn-ivory-tooth-CaPO4 bushed Lawrie "ReGaL"s. (I've been told by one well recognized authority that he would date them between 1930 and 1935.) Nice tone, "slightly" different dimensions - "AwFuL" chanter.

I also have a lovely brochure which focusses on R.G. Lawrie pipes and seems to have been published by the The Scottish Shopper in Seattle Washington. It bears no explicit date, but adding things up, it would seem to be from about 1972 or later. It claims there was a major rework of the chanter in 1966. It quotes Hector MacFadyen in 1969 saying "I personally have found the Lawrie Chanter absolutely first class..." and goes on to imply that he played Lawrie chanters and won many major events with it. My S&I set would have been model P11 per this brochure.

I have a prominent listing for Lawries in a 1969 and a 1974 catalog (before I was into piping), but not since 1992 when I really got started. Surely someone out there has an old catalog from 1974 to 1992 laying about amongst the old dead drone reeds and a wad of sealing wax?? Perhaps you could fill in the dates a bit???

In August 1993, I traced down a name and found a lawyer in Ohio who along with two partners had just sold their holdings in R.G. Lawrie and Co. to a new single owner, but I was not able to pry out the name of the new owner. I remember there being an implication that it was someone in Scotland.

Thats's what I know. Now about those old catalogs....

Steve MacLeod
Kalamazoo, Michigan

Bill Carr <the....@go.enitel.no> wrote in message news:3AA54614...@go.enitel.no...

[RonTeague]

Bill-I have played several sets of Lawries a set from around 1955, which was my
first teachers pipes, they had a nice mellow sound and ballanced well with the
drones, a set from either the late 1960- or early 1970's which was not as good
and were a bit more unstable and my 1910 ebony Lawries, which I will NEVER part
with. These raskells are, to my jaded piobaireachd loving ear, just about it.
Almost every type of drone reed sounds good in them. They are soft and well
rounded and ballance well against most of the black wood chanters that I have
put in them. My wife, who is a fan of ceol mor(good thing) says that the
difference between the 1910 Lawries and my 1960 Hendersons is the difference
between an oboe and a duck call. they are flat combed with funky nickle and
black wood fittings. I have played pipes which are more beautiful but only a
few can match the sound of these old ebony Lawries. I have one set of old
Glens which were close. I'm sure that there are other lovely pipes, and
perhaps my set is a fluke. I would love to hear, if they made them, a set of
ebony Macdougalls or ebony Glens. I decided to give them a name "MacCrimmons
Harp". Sorry to brag they are better than my poor skills and a better piper
should have them, but TOO BLEEDING BAD. THERE MINE DO YOU HEAR ME MINE, MINE,
MINE HAHAHAHA(he falls to the ground frothing).

Ron Teague, the very cheezy piobaireachd player