12 years old, making reeds and maintaining sets
for players in his native Pennsylvania, while also
playing the Highland, Northumbrian, and Flemish
pipes, as well as the flute. He learned woodworking
in school, afterwards working as a violin and woodwind
repairman in various shops. Upon settling down in
Portland, Oregon, he purchased a metal lathe and
began fufilling a long time dream of making pipes
for a living. At this time he had a strong interest
in the older style flat pipes, and his first 3 sets
were all pitched in C; he also was turning out the
more popular concert pitch sets. From the start
he was encouraged by myself and San Francisco
area pipers Ted Anderson and Mark Walstrom
to try employing the techniques of the famous
flat set makers of the 19th century, such as
rolling ferrules from sheet metal and building
hollow mainstocks. A pivotal experience was
when Brad and I attended the New York tionol
in October 1998. Jimmy O'Brien-Moran was the
guest piper, and Brad closely examined Jimmy's
antique Colgan and Reid pipes, as well as newer
sets built by Geoff Wooff, noticing all the subtle
details in these pipes which the newer makers
either ignored or weren't aware of.
Armed with this new found knowledge, and an
ever increasing collection of highly accurate
measurements and good closeup photos of beautiful
old sets in museums and private hands around
the world, he has blossomed into one of the
finest pipemakers in the world, making sets in
the style of the famous makers of the past:
Kenna, Coyne, Egan, Harrington, Colgan, Reid.
Kevin L. Rietmann
Vancouver, WA 98660
USA
Phone: 360-699-4409
Half set 3,630.00
Practice set 2117.50
Stock and Drones 1512.50
Regulators 1210.00 each
Chanter with 5 keys 1210.00
Chanter top w/stop key 363.00
Chanter w/chanter top 1573.00
Bag 181.50
Bellows 726.00
Keys (chanter or regulator)121.00 each
Reeds 60.50 each
A 50% down payment is required before work is begun.
Restoration projects and additional features (extra
drones, regulators, etc.) for new pipes will be
considered on a case by case basis.
hollow, with internal tubing to house the small and middle
regulators, these tubes are fed by smaller tubes which lead to the
back of the stock. This tubing is ready drawn to insure an
airtight fit, tubes for bass drone bends and chanter top inlets
are rolled from sheet metal. Metalwork is brass or nickel
silver. The mainstock regulator tubes are angled out from each
other, this spreads the regulators out slightly so the endcaps
don't press against the adjoining regulators. The sockets for the
drones are also angled out for similiar purposes. Bass drone bend
tubes have a flattened cross section; the middle sections of the
standing joint of the bass drone are held together with metal
straps and internally with small nails to insure slippage doesn't
occur. End mounts of drones are glued into place, and have
internal cavities to round out their tone; hard edges in the mount
are removed to decrease turbulence at the exit. Drone bores have
tapers to insure stability and response of the reeds. Cane reeds
are standard. Designs are after pipes by Egan, Coyne, and
Harrington; external and internal dimensions are closely held to.
Reamers for conical bores are "D" section, made from cylindrical
steel stock tapered down to 1/100mm accuracy, and hollow ground.
Further internal reaming is done with spoon auger reamers for
sharpening individual notes. Toneholes are initially underdrilled
and expanded when voiced, using a digital tuner as a pitch pipe to
tune to A=440. Toneholes are undercut both forwards and backwards
and worked into an oval shape, and slightly fraised on the outside
as well. Chanter keys have round pads with milled keyways, this
allows the keys to be sprung stronger than with square section
pads. Five keys are standard on chanters: Fnat, G#, Bb, Cnat,
high D (in the third octave). A small sixth key can be added upon
request to the front of the chanter to give E in the third
octave. All toneholes for chanter keys are drilled upon
manafacture; if the keys are not built initially they are covered
with leather pads glued into place, this to insure proper
voicing. Drilling chanter key holes after manafacture will undo
the tuning of the fingerholes. Wooden chanter top with gooseneck
inlet and stop key is standard. The bass regulator is removable,
it is attached to the mainstock by a wedge soldered to the upper
section, which slides into an fitting mounted on the stock. The
bass regulator's air feed is a small tube inside the stock. The
top section of the bore of the bass regulator terminates in a
metal tube which is bent at an angle, the lower keyed section fits
onto this tube; this allow the bass to be in line and at the same
elevation as the other regulators. Regulator keys are shaped ala
Coyne; teardrop shape keys in the style of M. Egan are available
on request. Bellows, bag, and velvet bag cover are hand-sewn.