Just off Edinburgh's historic Royal Mile is a faded storefront sign for artisan bagpipe maker Kilberry Bagpipes. Ruari Black, one of only a few remaining craftsmen in Edinburgh who knows how to make the instrument by hand, is proud to be carrying on the long-lasting tradition. "It just feels right to be making these instruments by hand," he says. The Highland bagpipe is an integral part of Scottish culture and history, famous for its distinctive, powerful sound. - SELF AUTHORED
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00:00So, at Kilberry we're one of the last artists and bagpipe makers, certainly in Edinburgh,
00:09the capital of Scotland.
00:12So, you know, keeping it handmade means a lot to me. It's the way it's always been done.
00:20It just feels right to be making these instruments by hand.
00:24Every set is going to have its own character in terms of looks, in terms of feel.
00:29So, we're not making as many.
00:31Obviously, as the machine maker, we're making about...
00:34On average, say, it takes a week to make a set.
00:37Generally, that can be because we're also setting up another set at the same time,
00:40or we're doing practice chambers, or general maintenance of machines that like to break.
00:46So, you know, we average it out at a week, probably like that.
00:50So, there's about eight or nine stages of making a set before we get to setting them up through the shop.
00:57We've got taking the wood from square section to make it fit the boring lathe.
01:01We've got boring the pipes out, then roughing the pipes down.
01:05We'll then roughly shape it, look at adding on any mounts.
01:09Whatever the customers decide, it's completely customisable.
01:12And then a lot of sanding and, you know, finishing, getting that sort of shiny finish on them,
01:18and then taking them through to set them up and have a tune.
01:22The instrument is a very full, very resonant, harmonic is the word that we use, instrument.
01:28It's got a big sound.
01:30It'll fill a room.
01:32Typically, bagpipes are played outside.
01:34There's a reason for that.
01:35But that's the sound that we're going for, is a big bagpipe sound.
01:39Customers are coming to us for a set of pipes.
01:41They're generally coming for the handmade aspect.
01:43They've wanted a handmade set of pipes.
01:45They're generally coming for the handmade aspect.
01:47They've wanted a handmade set of pipes.
01:49They've wanted the sound that we strive to produce, the thing that we want to be known for.
02:01And it's ranging from people who have been playing for 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years,
02:06all the way down to coming in to buy their first practice shatter, which is lovely to see as well.
02:11So we see all sorts of abilities.
02:14It's not nice to be one of the last.
02:16It'd be nice if there was a lot more.
02:18It'd be very nice to see, but it's nice to be carrying that on.