Made in London Ontario, Canada by Matt Marshall 1978 – 1981
Worked in R. G. Lawrie – Patterned after 1920 – designed by Angus MacDonald
Ringo,
Several months ago I had mentioned to you that I would be sending you some photos of the Glencoe Bagpipes made by Lawrie master drone maker Matt Marshall. Matt had served as a drone maker for Lawrie in Scotland for 5 years, receiving his master drone makers certification, and then he immigrated to Canada and began making pipes of the Lawrie design in the late 1970’s when Lawrie ceased production.
These particular pipes (not displayed) were made in about 1978 and sold through Bill Gilchrist of Minneapolis to Ron Husted, now Pipe Sergeant with the MacKenzie Highlanders of Des Moines (MacKenzieHighlanders.com). Bill Gilcrist (Gillie) is still piping with the Minneapolis Police Band.
Ron Husted sold these pipes to me two years ago because he wanted a set of engraved Naills; something a little fancier for the solo work he does. Initially Ron had decided to keep the Glencoes, but he relented and sold them to me. A few years prior to this he had the drones super-finished by Cameron Wylie in California (The shop is actually in Lynnwood, WA – information courtesy of a reader.) and had the solid nickel cups taken off and chromed so that they were always shiny and never needed polishing. He had tapped the bottom of the drones so that the Kinnaird drone reeds screwed into the bottom of the drone, eliminating drone reed fall-outs. He called these Glencoe pipes his “hotrod” pipes.
I have played with a number of different pipers and pipe bands, and these pipes have always been welcomed. They sound as good as any pipes I have ever heard and; it must be admitted, they make me sound like a good piper. “GLENCOE CANADA” is stamped on the upper bass drone cord slot and a couple of photos of the stamp are also attached.
You catalogue pipes and pipe makers and it was thought you might enjoy having this information. It is not known how many of these Gencoes Matt Marshall made, but he did have dealers in the US. Several of us have tried to locate Matt Marshall in Canada with no luck. The last we heard he stopped making pipes commercially and worked instead for an automobile manufacturer as a machinist.
These pipes are played solo for performances every month. 30 years old and they are just like new. Ron Husted always took immaculate care of them, he was (and still is) a regular piper for the Governor’s Office of the State of Iowa. I have been selected as the Official Piper for the 2009 South Dakota State Fair and will play them there. Let me know if you ever hear of another set or learn any more about Matt Marshall.
Best personal regards,
Norwood (Woody) BayBridge, FSA Scot
Some time later I received these words from Matt Marshall…..
“I started my apprenticeship with Lawries in 1966 so I cannot speak of the transition that was made to Lawrie bagpipes before then. The owner was Arthur Lawrie and he was an ex Royal Marine. I am not sure how or when he took over the business but he was in charge when I started to work there. His dad owned the business before that. The company produced more pipes than any other pipe maker at that time. Mr. Lawrie always said they would be the Ford motors of the bagpipe companies and he was right. The company also made lawn bowls, carpet bowls and police truncheons, kilts and pipe bags. Automation to bagpipes came about when the blackwood was bored out to finish inside dimensions, rough shaped on a copy lathe and then hand-turned by turners.
Within the shop floor the turners would work together to make the sets of pipes. Some would make the stocks and joints others would make the bass and tenor tops. This is why there are subtle changes in each set. All the turners were able to produce pipe chanters. The cut in to the stocks is there for decoration only and each company (turner) had their own distinct style.
I sold my pipes to Jim Scott of Scott’s Highland Services in London, Sandy Foster of The Pipers Cave in Brampton, Jim McNeil of McNeil’s Scottish Imports, Bill Burnett and Ed Langille of L & M Highland Outfitters who also made sporrans and pipe bags.”
After moving to Ajax Ontario in 1974, Matt purchased a tonne of wood and began producing bagpipes. His first sets were made to Lawrie specifications, however he was encouraged by George Campbell of the Oshawa General Motors Pipe Band to introduce certain modifications to the bores. Together they arrived at the final specification for the Glencoe bagpipe, which Matt made until 1978/1979. In total about 500 sets were made.
As fate sometimes dictates, I acquired the set of ABW and elephant ivory Glencoe bagpipes in 2012. They are pictured above and afforded me an excellent opportunity to document Matt’s work. More recently I found pictures of an R G Lawrie bagpipe with the original chanter that was probably made by Matt.
