My professional background is in Engineering Hydraulics (specializing in fluid dynamics and simulation) and over the last 12 years I have been making my pipes and refining my designs. I am now full-time pipemaking, offering a range of Irish and Northumbrian bellows blown pipes, all made in Coquetdale in the heart of upland rural Northumberland.

I make both Irish Uilleann Pipes (UP) and Northumbrian Small Pipes (NSP). My Uilleann sets are mainly in D & C pitch (plus a B chanter) with up to 4 keys on the chanter. Northumbrian sets are in standard F and G pitch with 7 keys. UP sets are made up to ¾ set format with 3 drones plus tenor & baritone regulators and are also available in half-set or practice-set format. My standard NSP F & G sets have a 7 key chanter and 4 drones, one with a tuning bead, but I also offer the simpler keyless NSP F & G chanters.

I make all the components, including 3D cutting my own design of keys for UP and NSP sets, in-house. This ensures a high level of quality control and I have developed additional modern engineering production techniques to allow me to produce reliable sets of consistently high-quality.

The tone-woods I use are sustainable accredited supply hardwoods such as Ebony & Cocobolo and European Boxwood & Plum. Bellows cheek hardwoods are local Elm, Oak, Chestnut, Ash, or Beech. I use a high-quality airtight sealed leather made in Lincolnshire for bellows and bag making. European Spanish Boxwood is my preference for many of the decorative mounts when applied to chanters, drones or regulators and provides a good visual contrast and a very traditional look to my pipes. I use brass for metal/key work as standard on most of my sets.

I also make mounts in Elforyn Super-Tusk® imitation ivory which contrasts well with Ebony instruments and silver-plated metal/key work. Some customers prefer silver-plated brass metalwork in this configuration, which I offer as an option at additional cost on both UP and NSP sets.