''George and I became fast friends and in 1984, when we heard a bagpipe maker in Edinburgh was retiring, I suggested we buy the business and I'd apprentice myself to George. ''My teacher told me that George made the best set of pipes in Scotland,'' Mr. Kilgour's Edinburgh shop to order a set of bagpipes. The partners first met 13 years ago when Mr. Many years later, when I opened my own bagpipe business in Edinburgh, Kilgour pipes became known as quality instruments.'' ''Quality and workmanship were his hallmarks.
''Robertson was a famous bagpipe maker and a demanding teacher,'' Mr.
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Kilgour, a Scotsman who began piping at 7, said he was 14 when he was apprenticed to James Robertson in Edinburgh to learn how to make a set of pipes. ''Today there are 150 of them, including one of the oldest and best-known, the Yonkers Kiltie Scots American Bagpipe Band, established in Yonkers in 1920.''
''Twenty years ago there were only 30 pipe bands in the tristate area,'' Mr. It was the increase in bagpipe bands over the last 20 years, Mr. The finished pipes weigh only seven pounds.'' ''Before we start fashioning a set of pipes, the wood we need for them weighs 26 pounds. ''And about $300 worth of it ends up on the shop floor,'' he added. Kron called ''the most expensive wood in the world.'' It takes 12 days for one man to hand-turn a set of pipes on the lathes from 14 pieces of African blackwood, which Mr. Kron, everything is done by hand in the traditional way, on lathes from Scotland that have been in constant use since 1845. Kron, 32, opened the first bagpipe factory in the United States, Kilgour & Kron Highland Bagpipe Makers in Dobbs Ferry. ''Although I chose to follow my father even though I knew I'd never get rich on it,'' he said, ''I would have to think twice about starting it today.'' A First for the U.S.Ī year ago, Mr. ''In the last four years we have had a 300 percent increase in the price of African blackwood, rosewood and nickel silver, the materials we use the most,'' he said. Laubin, was started by his father in 1931, worries about the increase in the cost of his materials.
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''Our finished instruments are sold to professional musicians, mainly in the United States and Japan. He and two other craftsmen produce just one instrument a week. Laubin said his instruments were made now the same way they had been made for 200 years. ''Pride in workmanship has always been very important to us.'' Mr. ''Oboe players and makers go back in our family for over 100 years,'' said Mr. Paul Laubin, an oboe and English horn maker in Peekskill, inherited his trade from his father. Kilgour, before adding, ''Making bagpipes may put bread on the table, but it won't buy cake.'' Pride in Workmanship ''Turning out a quality product by hand is very satisfying and I wouldn't want to be doing anything else,'' said Mr. George Kilgour and Charles Kron, who make bagpipes in Dobbs Ferry, expressed similar sentiments. And while you never achieve total perfection, the concept lures you on.'' ''You have to be an artist, a craftsman, an acoustics expert, a chemist and a physicist all rolled into one. ''Violin making is one of the ultimate challenges,'' Mr. Chapman, a violin maker in Mamaroneck, said it was the pursuit of excellence that spurred him on. EVEN as increasing numbers of mass-produced musical instruments tumble off assembly lines, three local craft shops are assiduously turning out small numbers of quality handcrafted musical instruments every year.Īlthough the shops' highly skilled craftsmen work long hours for comparatively modest salaries, they say they would not seriously consider any other line of work.Įric J.
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